Midsummer Nightmare
by Mirage Meister
Summary: Leaf Green used to lead an ordinary life. Tired of her boring life, she wishes for something more exciting. Her wish comes true, but not in the way that she wants it. In the course of a summer, her life has become a total nightmare! Rather than blaming it on her wish, Leaf's convinced that it's a certain former playboy's fault! -AU- ORS and other pairings.
1. Leaf's Wish

**Hello readers! If this little story caught your attention, I hope you're not totally regretting clicking on it! This is my first Oldrivalshipping story ever, so don't flame.(Flaming gets you nowhere) Oldrivalshipping is pretty much the only pairing that I'm disclosing to you…..for now.**

**Enjoy!**

_Italics= inner thoughts_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or else Leaf would actually be a recurring character in the show.**

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><p>The sun sets and gives an orangish glow to my very plain room. I can't help but sigh. Summer hasn't even started yet and I'm already bored; every single year is the same as the last, making every thing seem like one big blur.<p>

Beeping comes from my computer. I turn from my window and plop myself down in my chair. I click _Accept _and almost immediately I see Marina's face and her black pigtails. She's my best friend that lives in Sevii Islands.

You're probably confused, right? I was born in Pallet Town, but Dad got a job promotion that required us to move to the Sevii Islands when I was seven. We only lived there a year before Mom got homesick and moved back. I went with her, of course. What I didn't know at the time was that Mom and Dad decided to divorce because both refused to move back. The thing I don't understand, though, is how they **still **had feelings for one another (and still do oddly enough) but divorced anyway. Mom got custody of me for most of the year. Dad only got to keep me from July to September. So you can pretty much guess that I'm a lot closer to Mom.

"Hiya!" Marina's in a super cheerful mood today. She's so bubbly that I'm always half-expecting her to be able to use the move bubble-beam. You can get how bubbly she is by the way I used "bubbly" so many times.

"Hey." I'm smiling slightly.

"School's almost over and, guess what?" She starts giggling.

"What?" I echo.

She comes closer to her screen, cupping her hand over her mouth as she whispers, "I think Jimmy's going to ask me out soon!"

"Great!" I'm happy for her, I really am. But I'm also envious. I cast a wistful glance out the window to the house next door.

Marina catches this look. "Don't worry, I'm sure when you come over, we'll find you someone too."

I feel heat in my cheeks. "I am **not **jealous that you're going to have a boyfriend."

"Suuuurre. You **definitely** do not have a thing for Gary Oak." She gives me a coy wink.

If my face wasn't red before, it definitely was now. "I do **NOT **have a crush on Gary!" I deny a little too loudly. Whoops. Maybe I should have closed my window.

"Hmmmm….let's see." Marina pretends to be deep in thought, "You mention him all the time, 'Gary won the Kanto Region Geography Bee', 'Gary's such a jerk!', and 'Gary always thinks that he's so smart!' 'Gary was spotted with yet **another** cheerleader today'!" She's mimicking me and all the times I went on what she calls a "Gary Rant". She continues this for several minutes, while I'm sitting there wondering how she could've remembered all of this to last over this twenty minutes.

"So?" I counteract after I can't take it anymore.

"So you obviously have a crush on him." She squeals.

"Marina, I'd rather be shocked by a million Pikachu's then like **Gary.**"

"Liar, Liar, Your face is on fire!" she sings.

I see an opening for a topic change so I take it. "It's 'Liar, Liar, **pants **on fire', Marina."

She giggles some more. "Yeah, but, one: you're not wearing pants ,and two: you're face is redder than a Pikachu's cheeks."

"See?" Marina takes out the compact mirror that she always carries around and holds it up to her screen.

She's right; my face would put any rose to shame.

"Whatever!" I roll my eyes.

"Any who, I can't wait for you to come over here so we can double date!" Marina's high pitched squeal almost breaks my ears.

"Just one problem." I interject.

This seems to bring her back down to earth. "What?"

"I don't have a boyfriend." I point out, "And I'm not going to be third-wheel on your date."

Marina makes a face, "You're right. I mean, how are we going to convince Gary to go to **the** greatest vacation spot ever?" She's using sarcasm and I hate it.

"Okay, Okay." I admit, "Chances are, he **might** go. But **not** because I'm going to ask him."

"What! You should **totally** ask him!" She advises.

"It's not that easy, Marina." I argue.

"Sure it is! Just say, 'Hey, I think you're cute. Wanna spend the rest of the summer with me on the Sevii Islands?'"

"Marina!" I protest.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttt?" She's obviously back in Lala town.

"There are several complications." I start.

"Like what?" she demands, putting her hands on her hips.

"One," I list off on my finger, "I'm not pretty enough to be in Gary's league."

"Not true!" she interrupts.

Rolling my eyes, I continue, "Two, I have the social grace of a Metapod."

"….They evolve into Butterfrees…" she suggests weakly.

Even she can't deny that I have issues talking to other people. Some sort of shyness takes over me that enables me to somehow always be a bystander. Many think that I can't even speak. That I was just some poor, unfortunate girl born inaudible. A bonus is that teachers don't call on me; but then again, I barely have any friends, so I actually**do** my homework.

"Three, he totally hates me." I finish.

Marina is shocked. "He- he…**hates** you?"

I shrug in response.

"B-but…..I remember when I first met you, you used to go on and on about your friends at home."

I let her keep talking as I duck my head in shame. The last thing I need is for one of my only friends to think I was a complete loser.

"T-that Ketchup kid and Gary, right?"

I inwardly laugh at the strange nickname she unknowingly just gave Ash. It's also totally coincidental that Ms. Ketchum has to have, like, a million ketchup bottles.

"I dunno, Marina. He's been ignoring me. He's **never** talked to me in the course of eight years."

"Seven." She automatically corrects, "You aren't sixteen yet."

"The point is, I have no connection to him whatsoever. So you should seriously stop pairing us up together in that devious mind of yours."

"Me? Devious?" She laughs.

"Yeah, you." I join in.

Marina couldn't be deceitful enough to save her own life.

"Leaf." Her voice is quiet now.

"Hmmm?" I'm startled at the change.

"Promise me that you'll get a boyfriend before you get here. Really **promise** me." She's switched tactics. She knows that serious Marina will get me every time. Not only that, but I **hate **it when people beg.

"Fine" I sigh, "I promise that I'll have a boyfriend."

"Good!" she chirps, rapidly switching her mood. "Have fun watching the meteor shower with your Mom!"

"And who knows," she adds, "Gary may actually talk to you! You **did** tell me that it's one of the biggest gatherings of the year!"

She signs off cheerfully before I bang my head on the desk, groaning.

_Leaf Green, what were you thinking?_

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Mom and I are lying on a hill, waiting for the meteor shower to begin. We're not the only ones on the hill with picnic blankets and telescopes. Not too far from us are the Oaks. Professor Oak is setting up this <strong>huge<strong> telescope up while Daisy's spreading out their food. Gary's standing off to the side moodily for some reason.

"Go on." Mom nudges me, "Go ahead and talk to Gary."

"MOM!" I hiss embarrassedly. She **still** thinks that Gary and I are BFF's, just like we were back before I moved to Sevii Islands. If it's one thing that she and I both don't understand, it's how much Gary and I's relationship changed in the course of a year.

I guess Gary hears Mom or something because he looks over at us. Smirking like the jerk he is…

…Okay, I won't deny it; his smirks always send shivers down my spine and his beautiful green eyes stirs up the Butterfrees and Venomoths in my stomach. But that doesn't mean that I like him….right? He **is **the complete jerk who ignored me for eight years.

Gary walks over and my heart starts racing. What is he doing?

"Hello Ms. Green" he bobs his head out of respect for my Mom.

She smiles in return and elbows me. She thinks she's right as always.

"Leaf." He acknowledges me.

"Gary." I attempt to greet him but my voice gets caught in my throat. As a result, I end up squeaking.

Gary and Mom both give me a weird look.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Mom pats my back with one hand and feels my forehead with the other.

"Mom." I hiss through clenched teeth. My face heats up. _Way to go Leaf, if you weren't unpopular before, you totally are Queen of the Dorks now._

"Hmm…your face is red. Maybe you're coming down with something." She takes her hands away to get into the classical thinking pose.

"I'm fine." In an attempt to **actually** convey my voice, I shout loud enough that everyone else on the hill can hear me.

Daisy comes to my rescue, "Leaf, why don't you come over here? I'm pretty sure that some food will make you feel better."

I nod hollowly and hastily walk over to her picnic blanket.

* * *

><p>"Hello, Leaf." Professor Oak says as he bends over the telescope with a wrench.<p>

"Hmmm….mechanics was never much of my thing…." He mutters, scratching his head.

"Maybe I can help." I offer. Dad could fix **anything**, and I picked up a few things over the years.

"Be my guest, Leaf" he chuckles, "Though you may run into some issues."

I say nothing as I head over and take the wrench from his hand. I kneel down because I'm half aware that I'm wearing a too-short skirt (five inches above the knee)…..well, at least for my standards. Gary isn't known as a pervert, but in my book, 'player 'is a synonym to 'pervert'.

Professor Oak leaves to have a chat with Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother. Bill (the creator of the Pokémon storage system) comes over, and in no time, he has Daisy swooning over him as he talks about …whatever he's talking about.

I feel eyes on me, and I begin to lose focus as I become self-conscious.

"You're doing it wrong."

I'm startled and drop the wrench.

_Gary couldn't have actually spoken to me…._

Turning, I see Gary walking closer to me and…..

….picking up the wrench.

He kneels down **right **next to me and begins to unscrew the mistakes I had made while I was distracted.

For some reason, I'm irritated. It's almost every day that Gary decides that he just **has to** flaunt that he's better than me. That he actually got somewhere in the Indigo League. I probably would have never seen his face again if the Elite Four of all the regions hadn't decided that **all **Pokémon trainers and coordinators needed more formal education and should, therefore, go to high school in their hometowns; Gary and I wouldn't have to spend almost every day together in almost every **frickin **class if it wasn't for Bruno, Agatha, Lance, and Lorelei.

"I got it." I say curtly. "Here," I add as I hold out my hand expectantly.

He gives me a blank look before reluctantly giving it back.

I set off to work, resolute in showing him that I was **just** as capable as he was. The determination I was feeling made me temporarily forget the usual shyness I feel around Gary and…well, everyone else. Almost as if this energy brought back this me that was buried deep behind years of loneliness.

At some point, the screw doesn't seem to be budging. Gary, who was still watching me (and invading my personal space, as I might add), puts a warm hand around mine and turns the screw in. I forget to breathe for a few minutes and my vision blurs.

"T-thanks," I breathe out after I realize that that was the last screw. I was finished with Professor's telescope and there was no need for me to stick around anymore.

_His hand's still on mine._ _Why is he…?_

It seemed that the fact that he was still touching me occurred to him. He draws his hand back like he was burned by a Charmander.

For some reason, I'm offended, relieved, and sad at the same time.

"So…how have you been?" I look at the ground.

"So-so." He shrugs in response.

"Great" I awkwardly laugh.

"What were you doing before we were required to attend PTSA?" He asks, trying to make conversation.

PTSA is what we call our high school (Pallet Town School of Academics).

"Ummm….. nothing much….." I'm embarrassed to mention that I didn't get **anywhere**.

His eyebrows furrow. "You had to have been doing **something. **"

"I-I was…." I say haltingly.

"What was it?" He prods me. Obviously he only wanted to know so he could rub the fact that he was better in my face. Everyone knows that the pride of Pallet Town is Gary Oak and Ash Ketchum.

"I was aiming to be a top Pokémon trainer." I confess.

"Then what happened?" His questions are starting to get on my nerves.

"I wasn't good enough, okay?" I snap.

He says nothing at all and silence envelops the air until Bill and Daisy squeeze between us.

"Look over there!" Bill shouts excitingly.

We all follow his finger and see a bunch of shooting stars.

"Make a wish!" Daisy cheerily reminds as she closes her eyes shut.

Gary and Bill shut there eyes too, before I decide that one wish wouldn't hurt.

_I wish my summer will be totally eventful._

* * *

><p><strong>Will Leaf get her wish? What will happen in the course of time before she goes to Sevii Islands? Why didn't Leaf make it to the Indigo Plateau? Of course, I know because I'm the author. But getting your minds running would be totally fun.<strong>

**Just to clarify, Leaf only refers to Kanto/Johto Region Pokémon because those are the only regions that she's been to.**

**There will be more characters, guaranteed. Oldrivalshipping isn't the only pairing in this story (though it IS the main one). Each chapter will be from a different character's point of view (that means that there will only be one P.O.V each chapter).**

**I'd like to know what you think of this story so far. One thing you should know though (This is especially for you, future haters of my stories). I WILL ALWAYS CONTINUE MY STORY, NO MATTER WHAT. I MAY TAKE A LONG TIME TO UPLOAD, BUT I WILL NEVER DISCONTINUE MY STORIES.**

**Please give your comments, opinions, and suggestions!**


	2. Misty Gets Schooled

**Hi! I'm now well aware of my grammar mistakes, and I'd like to thank Diogenes Laertius, pikabank, and Farla for kindly reviewing to my first story. Feel free to leave a review about other grammatical mistakes in this story, because constructive criticism is always good.**

_Italics= inner thoughts_

**Bold= exaggerated or stressed words**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. That's probably a good thing because of all the times I'd bash Ash on the head for being such a dense boy.**

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><p><strong><span>Misty<span>**

Ahhhhhhhhh….the serenity of the Cerulean City Gym when there's no challengers. School at Cerulean High is out and I'm free to relax a little.

"Daisy! Violet! Lily!" I call, and I hear my voice echo across the pool.

Daisy, Violet, and Lily simultaneously shout, "Whaaaaaattt?"

"I'm going to go to Pallet Town tomorrow!" I announce. Because seriously, I swear, they're going to wake up the next morning and panic when I'm not there to run the gym.

"Like, we know already, Misty," Lily grumbles.

"Yeah, you've had to have told us, like, a million times!" Violet agrees.

"Awww, you guys," Daisy cuts in, "You know Misty's only saying that because she gets to see her boyfriend."

"Shut up!" I clench my fists menacingly.

On cue, all of my older sisters start laughing hysterically.

"Ash is SO not my boyfriend!" I protest. The temptation to smack their pretty little faces rises.

"Denial isn't, like, a river in Egypt, ya know?" Lily snickers.

"Grrrrr!" I growl.

I storm off angrily to my room. Azurill wakes up after the door slams, poking up her head questioningly.

"It's nothing, Azurill," I sigh, "Go back to sleep."

Sinking into my bed, I take a look around my room. It's nearly empty, as I packed almost every one of my belongings in three bags (good packing, right?).

Ash is probably the same impatient kid that I remember from the old days, who just can't **wait **to go on a Pokémon journey in the summer. I'm desperately hoping that he'll invite **me** along and not some random chick whose bike Pikachu just fried. Whenever I think this over, I no longer feel so special. May and what's her face-Dusk? - got to travel with Ash **without **having to hound him for bike reimbursement. That meant that he **actually **wanted their companionship.

_Don't worry, Misty. Ash will be __**begging **__you to travel with him once again after he sees how strong you and your pokémon have become!_

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><p>"I'm sorry, Misty, but Ash isn't here," Delia Ketchum explained sympathetically, "He's at school right now."<p>

_Damn. I forgot. Pallet Town's school ends later than all the other schools by __**two **__weeks…stupid overachievers…_

"That's fine. Just tell him I stopped by,'kay?" I turned to leave.

"Wait, Misty!" Mrs. Ketchum grabs my arm.

"Hmmmm?" I ask.

She hands me a paper bag filled with food. "Ash's school just started their hour lunch period right now. Would you mind stopping by and giving this to him?"

She adds with a wink, "I have a feeling that what he gets at school won't be enough."

I smile; Ash is the same as always.

"Sure, Mrs. Ketchum!" I declare happily.

With that, I head off to Pallet Town School of Academics on my bike.

* * *

><p>"Please state your business," the secretary demands of me, stopping me at the front desk. Her glasses glint in the light and curl sharply at the edges. Her red curls are piled on top her head and she's actually <strong>glaring <strong>at me.

"Ummm…I'm here to drop off a lunch," I gesture to the paper bag in my hand.

She snorts as if it's the most ridiculous thing she's heard before she recollects herself.

"Are you a student here?" she asks, glancing me up and down. Perhaps I should have left my hair in its trademark side ponytail, rather than down…..

"No," I shake my head.

She sighs loudly before clicking on the PA. "Professor Oak, please report to the front desk. Thank you."

_Professor Oak? What does he have to do with the school?_

A little while later, he appears.

"Why hello, Misty!" he seems to be surprised that I'm here.

"Mrs. Ketchum told me to drop this off for Ash," I tell him, handing him the bag.

Professor Oak stares at it in shock for a few moments before he and the secretary burst out laughing.

"Oh, you could've told me it was for Mr. Ketchum," the secretary snickers. Obviously Ash required lunch from his mom everyday.

"What brings you here?" Professor Oak inquires. He adds, "Besides delivering Ash's lunch."

I turn scarlet, "I…..uh…actually came here to **visit **Ash."

Professor was in deep thought, "How long do you plan on staying here?"

I shrug, "I dunno, as long as I need to I guess."

He beams, "Brilliant! Miss Chantille, please register her in all our classes."

Miss Chantille gaps for a few seconds before snapping to attention. "Right away, sir."

So the next thing you know, I'm enrolled in Pallet Town School of Academics for the next two weeks.

_Ash __**so **__better invite me on his next journey._

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><p>"Misty!" Ash falls out of the bench. Gary's sitting across from him, and boy, do they look <strong>different<strong>. The bright side was that they weren't the only ones who changed. I argued with the Sensational Sisters for the past few months on my physical appearance. We both had to compromise a little, but at least I've never had to wear a dress or a skirt.

I merely hold out the paper bag lunch. Maybe I'll let him think I'm mad at him. I **was** furious with him not too long ago, however. The Sensational Sisters could tell you that. They still think I should take anger management class. As if!

"There's your lunch, Ashy boy," Gary says as he takes a bite into his own lunch.

Ash takes it from me gratefully, almost immediately chowing down on its contents.

Pikachu pokes his head into the bag. He beams instantaneously as he lifts out a ketchup bottle.

"You could at least say 'thank you', Ash Ketchum. Didn't anyone teach you any manners?" A part of me wants to smack him several times with my mallet, because I'm **still **angry that he ignored me for almost a **whole **year.

"Sorry, Mist. We're still pals, right?" Ash asks with his mouthful. Or at least, I **think **that's what he said.

"Hmmmm….I'll let it slide, Ketchum. But you better not ignore me for several months like last time," I reply in irritation as I squeeze into the bench next to him.

Pikachu bobs his head up and down in appreciation as he devours the ketchup bottle.

The three of us (not counting Pikachu) eat in silence until Gary **actually** looks at me. He has a double-take when he spots my attire.

"You're enrolled in PTSA!" Gary splutters. Honestly, the boy has no hope for being a pokémon researcher if he's not more observant.

"Yeah, so I am," I respond indifferently, pulling at the plaid red skirt self-consciously. Remember how I told you that the Sensational Sisters haven't been able to get me into skirts so far? Well, the secretary lady managed to somehow, and now I'm feeling **extremely **uncomfortable.

"Shouldn't you be running the Cerulean Gym?" Ash is curious as to why I'm here. But it seems like he wants to get rid of me somehow.

I'm pretty blunt with how I feel. "It sounds like you're trying to get rid of me, Ash."

"I'm not!" Ash frowns.

Gary laughs at his scowl.

_Go on, Ash. Fight and argue with me. That was always half of the fun I had when I traveled with you._

Surprisingly, Ash says nothing afterwards.

_What happened to you Ash? You're not the same dense kid I remember._

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><p>"Excuse me," I pause in the hallway to speak to a brunette girl with an eevee around her shoulders.<p>

She stops and looks at me, saying nothing. She tips her head down a little, causing her white fedora to cover her face.

_Sheesh, you would have thought that Pallet Town would be a lot friendlier._

"I'm kind of new here and I was wondering if you could- " I start.

"Misty!" It's Gary, and he's striding down towards us quite quickly.

Before you know it, he's whisking me away from the girl.

"What was that for?" I hiss. If he honestly thought that I was going to solely spend time with him and Ash for the next two weeks, he is dead wrong! Not to mention, they attempted to **ditch **me a few minutes ago for some "guy time" (I think they were just annoyed with me and how I was kind of ruining their reputation). All of a sudden, after I'm fending for myself, they want me back?

"That's Leaf Green," he patiently explains, as if telling me her name really meant anything.

I cross my arms, "So?"

He sighs, running his hand through his spiky hair, "You won't get anywhere with her."

His words cause me to think and look at Leaf, still standing where I left her a few feet back.

I'm almost startled by how intently her hazel eyes are gazing at me. Her eyes temporarily glance at Gary before coming to me.

Before I could shout out an apology for so rudely leaving, she turns on her heel and walks away.

"See?" Gary shakes his head, "I told you."

* * *

><p>PTSA is turning out to be a living hell so far. The teachers were talented, and some very nice, but they were super strict. Despite being a small town in the Kanto Region, Pallet Town had begun to take its reputation seriously ever since the top trainers of this generation originated from there. The students were expected to be top- notch pokémon trainers, coordinators, breeders, and researchers. I'm actually struggling with some of the classes on my first day, but somehow Gary (and even Ash) is breezing right through the material.<p>

Gary's in all of my classes. I found out later in the day that it was because we were both gym leaders. Or at least, I was. Agatha from the Elite Four took over the Viridian City Gym for awhile, but apparently expected Gary to become the new gym leader. She told Gary that she couldn't stand it if another Oak became "a mess of what they could've been". Professor Oak is thrilled to have an actual official gym leader at PTSA. I guess he's hoping that I could influence Gary into becoming a gym leader instead of a researcher like him…..which I **still **don't understand at **all**.

I asked Gary if Ash is still only interested in being a pokémon master. He jokingly said that Ash may **finally **start liking girls in a while. Then he teased me about wanting to be the girl who distracted Ash from his journey. I blushed several shades of red matching my hair and probably basically handed him license to mock me for the rest of my life.

The craziest part of the whole summer so far?

_Gary's actually growing on me_.

* * *

><p><strong>So here we learn at least one more character of <strong>_Midsummer Nightmare_**'s cast. Misty is now enrolled as a student in PTSA, merely because Professor Oak thought that it might help with their reputation.**

**Ash and Pikachu are mentioned slightly, but I wanted to show Misty meeting Leaf and how Misty initially interacts with Gary. I kind of rushed through this chapter a bit, so let me know if I made any mistakes in information or grammar. (I.e. If I gave Leaf or Gary the wrong eye color) Microsoft Word can be so annoying at times with its auto correct.**

** Please give me your comments, opinions, or suggestions!**


	3. Leaf Makes Some Friends

**Hey! I know it's been awhile since I last updated! School's out, so I can now proceed to give you more of my story. I'd like to thank pikabank and Spacebar for being so kind as to review my story!**

**I don't know if any of you noticed, but I changed the summary because I decided that it was too….stiff. And I also decided that I might actually change the POV during the chapter.**

**Anyway, please don't be so harsh when you read!**

_Italics= Inner thoughts_

**Bold= Emphasized words**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

"Did you hear? Gary and Ash are going to duke it out over the Cerulean City transfer!"

"Rumor has it that she's playing both boys until she decides which one she likes better."

"I wonder how she managed to snag the hottest two boys in the school?"

Around me, people whisper of the new girl. Misty…. Or at least, I think that's what her name was. Either way, she just showed up and already managed to befriend the two most popular guys in school. As I look at her, I can't help but think that that should be me over there, chatting and giggling with Gary and Ash. Misty's only been here for two days, and she's already way higher than I could ever be on the social ladder.

But that's not the only reason why I envy her. She's a gym leader and the youngest of the Sensation Sisters (one of my mom's favorite entertainment groups). She's well-known for having grace and poise as a water pokémon trainer.

_Face it, Leaf. You are __**totally **__jealous of Misty. Why __**else**__ would you look her up in the fame checker Daisy gave you?" _

* * *

><p>The lunch bell rings, and people start streaming out the classroom doors to the cafeteria or outside. PTSA handbook states that students are allowed to have six pokémon on hand, but the pokemon are to stay inside their pokéballs until free period or in dire circumstances in which the teacher will instruct you to release your pokémon.<p>

As soon as the hallways are clear enough, I release Eevee. She bounds around me playfully before climbing up my back to my shoulders. My spirit lifts; Eevee always manages to bring a smile to my face. Now that I felt a little less lonely, I headed off to the cafeteria to grab lunch.

* * *

><p>Eevee stares at my grilled cheese sandwiches hungrily. I giggle as I pet her head. In a way, Eevee reminds me of Ash and his extreme hunger. At last, I reach where they give out tomato soup. With my tray now full, I turn to leave the lunch line. However, in the process, I bump into someone and slosh my tomato soup all over my white blouse.<p>

"Sorry!" the person shouts apologetically. It's Misty.

I fake a smile. At that moment, all I was aware of was that the red was starting to seep into my skin. I grimace as my I felt the soup burn my skin. Eevee looks worriedly at me. I'm pretty sure my wince was obvious to her; she and I are bonded in some, special way.

"I'm **sooo** sorry," Misty frantically tries to clean up the mess by dabbing at my blouse with a paper towel.

Despite the misgivings I had about her at first, she wins me over with her overall sweetness and compassion. At least she's sorry. That's gotta count for something, right?

"It's okay. I'm fine," I finally say.

She gasps loudly all of a sudden.

I merely raise my eyebrow up in response.

Misty immediately looks embarrassed, "I thought you were speech impaired."

"Let me guess, **Gary **told you that, right?" My eyes narrow. I could only assume that by how he dragged her away yesterday.

She stiffens, "I feel bad about this, so how about you join me and my friends for lunch?'

Misty didn't say it, but I'm pretty sure she was thinking that it was a win-win situation because I probably had no one else to hang out with…which **is **completely true.

I decide that it wouldn't hurt to take Misty up on her offer. I agree but tell her that I'll be changing my shirt first, though.

Misty cringes upon looking at my shirt before also offering to pay for my lunch. I firmly shake my head. As I head back to my locker, I contemplate all that happened in the last five minutes.

_Hmmmm….. Mom was always saying how I needed more friends._

* * *

><p>"Leaf?" Gary's confused to why I'm at their "popular" table, which is quite odd considering that there were only three people sitting there originally. For some reason, the populars are held above the rest of PTSA and are barely spoken to due to their "coolness".<p>

"Yeah," Misty smiles at me, "I kind of spilled her lunch all over her uniform, so I offered for her to sit with us!"

Ash rolls his eyes and snorts, "You're such a klutz, Misty."

"Shut up!" Misty retorts angrily, quickly turning to bash him atop the head with a mallet.

Gary smiles slightly while Ash is clutching his head, whining to himself that Misty hits **so **hard.

Misty beams brightly, despite her violent attitude a few moments ago. She pats her hand down on the bench besides her, "Sit here, Leaf."

So I plop down unceremoniously next to Misty and across from Gary. Eevee tentatively hops of my shoulders and onto the table. Careful to avoid the others, she attempts to eat a nibble of my sandwich.

"Aw," Misty smiles, "That's so cute."

Gary doesn't bother looking, but Ash watches with an odd look on his face.

The table falls into silence, and only Misty attempts conversation.

When I finally finish my lunch, Ash stands up and declares, "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

"Ash," Misty said, looking quizzical, "Why would you do that?"

Ash rolls his eyes in an exasperated manner. "**Because**, Mist, I've never battled Leaf before. And I've got to up my game if I'm going to be the world's top-"

"Pokémon master." Both Gary and Misty cut him off.

"We know, Ash," Misty sighs.

_Honestly, Ash. It isn't that hard to comprehend. _

Gary shrugs his shoulders, "Well, we have nothing else to do. A pokémon battle is looking pretty interesting right now."

Misty nods, "I would really like to see what pokémon you have, Leaf."

I hesitate, looking back and forth between Gary, Misty, and Ash. It's been awhile since I last battled.

I'm about to refuse, when I catch the eye roll Gary gave me.

_Did he just-?_

Then he smirks at me, clearly challenging me.

_Game on, Gary._

At last, I give a firm nod.

_Prepare to get your butt whooped by a girl, Ash._

* * *

><p>Ash eagerly runs ahead out to the field. I walk somewhat leisurely after him, and Misty and Gary straggle behind.<p>

They're still in earshot, though, because I overheard their conversation.

"Who do you think is going to win, Gary?" Misty asks curiously.

"I dunno," Gary shrugs.

"So you're not going to make any guesses?" Misty's incredulous at this point.

"I haven't ever seen Leaf battle," Gary grunts.

"I guess we'll see, then," Misty says somewhat disappointedly.

When I finally reach the battlefield, Ash eagerly calls out, "It'll be a three-on-three battle! Gary can be the ref!"

Gary nods assent, and he and Misty stand off to the side as we call out our first pokémon.

Ash throws first, yelling, "Pikachu, I choose you!"

I merely toss my ball into the air. Leafy comes out and blinks, clearly confused.

"It's Venesaur!" Misty says in awe. It's almost like she's never really seen one before.

I reach my hand out and pet its flower bud gently. I willed for him to understand that we were in a battle.

Ash, in the meanwhile, cries out, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

Leafy reacts in time and grabs Pikachu with a vine whip.

We're doing pretty well in the battle until Pikachu uses Thunder Shock.

Leafy faints, and I summon her back.

The others stand still, waiting to see what my next pokémon would be.

I throw another pokéball, and Jigglypuff appears.

Ash clutches his side, laughing.

_Why is he-?_

Jigglypuff blows up her cheeks indignantly before reaching out to double-slap Pikachu….**hard.**

Ash blinks in surprise as Pikachu collapses, cheeks redder than usual.

_He must seriously underestimate Jigglupuffs._

He swallows before tossing out his next pokémon.

"Swellow!" it cries out. It's a horrible, hideous pokémon with powerful wings and a long, sharp beak.

I instinctively back up before cowering.

"Get away from me!" I shriek. Tears start to form in my eyes as fear envelops me.

_No, no get away! Leave me alone you…you monster!_

Ash stands there, confused, while Misty gasps and looks between me and…..**it.**

"Ash, call Swellow back now!" Gary calls out furiously as he strides towards me. His strides are quick and angry, like several stings.

"What's wrong with you?" Gary hisses. I hear Ash summon back the creature in the meanwhile.

With the monster gone, I relax. I can finally breathe and think.

Then realization hits me as the mortification of acting out sinks in. They've found out. I should have guessed that I'd come across the monsters eventually, but I always hoped that I wouldn't.

"Gary." Misty is all of a sudden right behind him. "Leave her alone. Can't you see she's upset?"

Ash grumbles in the background, "We didn't get to finish the battle!"

Misty snaps, "Honestly, you guys are such **jerks**! All you care about are your stupid pokémon battles."

"C'mon," she adds as she grabs me by the arm, "Let's ditch these **losers**."

* * *

><p>It's been hours since Misty pulled me off to "girl talk". Luckily, Misty got mobbed by a bunch of other girls, and as soon as they cleared out, the bell rang. I still didn't understand why she actually bothered to talk to me, though. I mean, I'm not exactly the most friendly and approachable person in the world.<p>

"Okay, class! I'm pleased to announce that after consulting the school calendar, I can still give you **another** project!" Mr. Fuwacchi declares loudly. His voice jolts me to attention.

Behind me, Misty groans. I guess Cerulean High has a much easier school curriculum.

"However, instead of doing the project by yourself, you can feel free to partner up with the people around you!" He beams as he says this. It probably **just **occurred to him that students wouldn't complain as much if he made his projects a little more….fun.

"Sakari, could you please hand out these packets to each of the students? " Mr. Fuwacchi turns to Sakari Saison in the front row and hands her a huge pile of paper.

Sakari's violet eyes brighten considerably at the prospect of helping Mr. Fuwacchi. Sakari is known for being a teacher's pet, as well as being a stickler for the rules.

While she passes out the handouts, Mr. Fuwacchi takes up conversation with the other students in the front row.

"Wanna be partners?" Misty asks, smiling at me.

"Hold on," Gary interjects, "What about** me**?"

My heart beats. Does Gary want to be partners with me?

"Mist, are you actually going to leave me with….." Gary gestures to Ash sitting behind him, "….**him**?"

My heart plummets. It's Misty he wants to pair up with.

_Wait, why do I want to work with the world's most arrogant __**jerk**__?_

"Hey!" Ash protests, "I'm just as good as Misty!"

Ignoring Ash, Misty responds, "You'll be fine. I need a **female **friend, Gary. Besides, I've had **enough** of both you and Ash to last a whole entire life time."

Gary huffs in annoyance. Crossing his arms, he grumbles to Ash, "Looks like you and I are partners, Ashy boy."

Grinning victoriously, Misty turns to me, "So what are you thinking of doing for the project, **partner**?"

And somehow, even though I'm not Gary's partner, I feel so much better than I have ever been for the past seven years.

* * *

><p>The final bell rings. Since it's friday, we have the whole weekend to do whatever we want.<p>

The whole prospect of relaxing soothes me and I actually begin to hum the latest song _Pallet Town Now! _radio station_. _But I stiffen as I realize that the whole hallway is filled with boys. Apparently I'm the one person they love to mock the most; whenever I pass by, they immediately stop whatever they're doing and start whispering and elbowing each other. A couple of the boys are completely out of hand, though. They approach me and start spouting gibberish just to mimic my inaudibility.

This time, it's different. They all watch me silently and clear the hallways by gathering around all the lockers. It's almost as if they're paving the way to something.

As I pass the last group of boys, I come across a sign-up sheet.

"_Do YOU have what it takes to become a top pokémon coordinator? Sign up now for the PTSA's first pokémon contest! Represent the school against other top pokémon coordinators from the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions! The winner gets a year's supply of pokémon food, a $1000 check, and the Prestige Cup! For more information, please contact the front desk," The sheet screams enthusiastically at me._

I bite my lip. I watched contests before, but I've never participated in one. What would it hurt to try?

_Ummm…every bit of pride and dignity that you have left?_

"Hello, Leaf!" a voice chirped from behind me.

I turned around and was stunned to find a pair of violet eyes staring straight back at me.

As Sakari moves to sign herself up for the contest, she asks, "So are you interested in entering?"

I shake my head in response before I could help it.

"What?" Sakari's incredulous. Then she softens, "You know, you should really try it. You would certainly be a formidable opponent."

Before I could say anything, Seth Sharperson comes up and whisks Sakari away. He's one of the really popular nice guys. Even though he did wave and smile apologetically, I couldn't help but feel offended.

What was it with guys taking away a girl when I'm actually about to say something in our conversation?

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, I kinda forced he last part to come out. Come to think of it, this was one of my forced chapters. I would do another POV, but that'd give away too much.<strong>

**Anyway, anybody want to guess why Leaf reacted so weirdly during her and Ash's battle? And it appears that Misty is trying to befriend Leaf, despite Gary's warning from the last chapter!**

**If you wouldn't mind reviewing this chapter, please keep in mind that CONSTRUCTIVE criticism would be MUCH better than flaming.**

**Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions!**


	4. Leaf and Gary play Romeo & Juliet

**Hi! I know it's been awhile since I last updated this story. Sorry for taking so long, but I've been preoccupied lately. **

**I'd like to thank Spacebar, Chaerin, Ultimate Pokemon Master, silver-hedgehog, and silver shihouin for reviewing the last chapter.**

**I'm aware that this story isn't exactly the most grammatical, but I'm hoping that the content is at least decent to the readers. I wanted to do first person, as third person was getting a little too old for me, but I will switch if readers think this story will be better of that way. As for canon characters, I'm not so sure how accurately I am portraying them, but hopefully it will not be too OOC. **

**To clarify, the italics are used as inner thoughts because I find it annoying and confusing at times to put the character's thoughts as dialogue to themselves. It's just what I'm used to, but if anyone has any problems with it, I will try to change it.**

**Anyway, please don't be very critical or harsh when you read!**

**Bold: Exaggerated words**

_Italics: Inner thoughts_

"_Italics": Conscience/ Inner self_

**Warning: Canon characters are most likely OOC.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon.**

* * *

><p><strong>Gary<strong>

"C'mon, Ashy boy," I nudge the sleeping figure on the floor with my foot, "We've got to get some work done."

Ash just snuggles deeper into the pillow he stole from my couch. "Five more minutes, Mom."

I sigh exasperatedly, "C'mon, Ash. The project counts as 50% of our fourth semester grade. We've **got **to get a 100 on this!"

"Sorry to interrupt," Daisy smiles from the doorway, "but I just finished baking cookies! Anyone interested in a little break?"

Upon the word "cookie", Ash bolted up and shot like a rocket towards the kitchen, chanting "Food! Food!" over and over again.

"Daisy!" I pinch the bridge of my nose in annoyance, "We don't **need **a break. We hardly even got started on the project!"

"Oh," Daisy waves me off, "You need to loosen up, Gary. Why don't you join him?"

"No," I narrow my eyes, "I'm going to get some **work **done."

"Whatever you say, little brother," Daisy shrugs as she heads back to the kitchen.

I exhale and tiredly plop onto the couch. I reach over to the coffee table and force myself to pick up and read the packet Mr. Fuwacchi gave us.

_For your fourth semester project (that counts as 50% of the quarter grade in case you did not listen to me in class), you must perform and make an interpretation on a scene from one of Shakespeare's great plays._

_I have given you the name of the play, act, and scene you must do (you must refer to the collection of Shakespeare books I have handed out at the beginning of the year). I expect the interpretation to be logical and well-thought out. The acting must be entertaining and accurate to pronunciation; you must also follow EVERYTHING that your Shakespeare play books say. _

_If I happened to give you a scene requiring two people of the opposite gender and your partner is the same gender as you, you MUST find another group of two that happen to be the same gender as each other but are the opposite of yours. For example, two boys are stuck with a romantic scene. They must find a group with two girls who ALSO have a scene that they cannot complete due to gender issues. The two groups will have to swap partners and are BOTH responsible for how the two scenes go. _

_Depending on the grouping and the performance, some will be given extra credit or a bonus that will increase their overall grade._

_Deadline will be the Monday on the last week of school. Performances will be during special English classes in the auditorium._

I groan as I read the first page. Knowing my luck, all the girl groups reading this will come knocking on my door asking to switch partners. I shudder as I remember my old cheerleading squad.

Yup, those playboy days were **definitely **behind me.

As I'm about to flip the page and read the scene we're assigned, the doorbell rings.

"Gary," Daisy shouts from the other room, "I'm busy making sure Ash doesn't inhale everything in the kitchen. Can you get the door?"

I roll my eyes. Whenever Ash comes over, we always have to put locks on our pantry and **still **restock everything afterwards. A hungry Ash surprisingly has enough strength to break the locks apart.

As I open the front door, I'm surprised to find a girl with fiery red hair in a side ponytail.

_Misty_.

* * *

><p>"So you're saying that you and Leaf want to work with us because you got stuck with a scene requiring a boy and a girl?" I ask after Misty finishes explaining her predicament.<p>

"Well," Misty hesitates, "not exactly. Leaf's **convinced **that we should try another group besides you and Ash."

I snort, "Of course she did. But did you even bother asking if we even **got **a scene that we needed you on? For all you know, Ash and I could have some fight scene or something. There's no need to be so desperate and clingy to us, Mist."

Misty makes a face at me, "Stop being such a jerk, Gary! You're the only group I know of that has two boys! Did you even bother to **check **what scene you have?"

"No," I sigh reluctantly. I hated to lose ground against Misty. "I was just about to see."

"Well then," Misty says smugly, "Let's see it."

She reaches for my packet, but I snatch it away before she can get her hands on it.

When I get to the part about our scene, my stomach drops.

_I must be the __**unluckiest **__person in the world._

"_**Romeo and Juliet: Act 2, Scene 2"**_

Upon seeing my face, Misty beams and grabs the paper from my now- still hands. "Lemme see!"

"Aww," she sighs as Ash finally walks back in. "You and Ash got the balcony scene!"

* * *

><p>"WHAT?!" Ash splutters as he walks in, sporting cookie crumbs all over his face. "You mean that ridiculous scene where the girl and guy get all cheesy and mushy-gushy?"<p>

I look at Ash sideways, "Glad to know you agree. But for your info, Ashy Boy, that's the **whole play**."

"Stop it!" Misty scolds as she brings out her mallet menacingly, "This scene has to be the most romantic thing ever!"

"Sure," Ash sweatdrops as he raises his hands in surrender. "…romantic and stuff."

Misty pouts, which immediately freaks me out. Who would ever peg Misty as the romantic chick-flick girl? "It's too bad I already told Leaf that my new partner and I get our old assignment."

"Which is?" I ask, desperately hoping for something less cheesy.

Misty sighs wistfully, "_Romeo and Juliet: Act 5, Scene 3…_.the death scene."

I snort, "What's so romantic about killing yourself in an old crypt with corpses surrounding you?"

Misty frowns and smacks me lightly on the head with her hand, "You're such a guy! Just for that, **Ash **is going to be my partner!"

"So?" I shrug, forgetting my earlier problem with the project. "Knock yourself out."

"But Gary," Ash interjects, "that means you're doing the balcony scene."

My face blanches as it sinks in.

"With Leaf," Misty adds. "You can't forget her."

By Misty's smug attitude, I can only guess that she knows that I seriously regret the crypt comment.

Late in the afternoon, a reverberating _"NO!" _was heard all over the Kanto region.

* * *

><p><em>How did I end up at Leaf's front door again? Oh yeah, I have to work with her if I want a good grade….which I kinda need for permission to work with Professor Ivy this summer so I don't have to run Viridian City Gym. So yeah, it's sink or swim, Gary. Sink or swim.<em>

My fist hesitates before knocking on the Green's door. A minute later, I hear footsteps and the door opens.

"Gary?!" Leaf practically shouts in surprise, raising her eyebrows at me. Immediately, she flushes a bright pink at her outburst.

I lean against the doorway, not willing to even pretend to be polite like I did last time. "Let's get right to it, Green. Misty's pairing up with Ash on the death scene, so we're stuck with each other."

Leaf's hazel brown eyes widen and she blinks rapidly. Then she frowns and brushes past me roughly, slamming her door behind us in obvious anger.

As she stalks off, I can't help but whistle in amazement.

Who knew that working with me could melt her icy exterior? Sure, it wasn't sugary sweetness or anything like that, but at least she spoke and revealed her true self for once; instead of pretending like the faker she is.

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

_Stupid Gary getting my hopes up._

Right before he had knocked on my door, I was talking to Marina. The inevitable topic of Gary came up and we were JUST talking about him. I was shocked to see him, but the only reason that sprang right into my mind was that Gary had come to confess his undying love for me.

_Clearly you've been reading too many cheesy, romance novels, Leaf._

"Leaf!" It's Misty, and she's surprisingly on the Oak's doorsteps.

She bounds up to me, "I was just about to head over to your house! Ash and Gary agreed to work with us! Isn't that great?"

"Yeah," I fake a smile, "it really is."

Misty gives me a weird look, "I'm sorry, but is there a problem with you working with them?"

"No," I shake my head quickly in denial, "It's just…"

"Just** what**?" Misty asks, her voice borderline annoyed, but she's curious too.

I sigh, giving up. "I think it'll be better if I just worked with Ash then."

Misty's eyes narrow at me. "Sorry, but I'm already working with him," She says somewhat smugly.

"Okay, fine." I say frustratedly, "What's the new scene that I'm doing with Gary?"

Misty carefully examines my expression as she answers. "The balcony scene, of course."

My eyes twitch as I try to picture Gary and me together as Romeo and Juliet…Nope, not gonna happen.

I'm going to end up **failing **the project, because I was paired with Gary. Perfect, he manages to **still **make me miserable without really doing anything.

"Oh, c'mon," Misty attempts to cheer me up, "It's not going to be that bad. I'll make sure he doesn't try anything funny."

"Don't worry," I mutter, though I'm not sure if Misty hears me. "He doesn't even want to."

* * *

><p>"….It is my lady. O, it is my love," Gary recites in monotone. His eyes practically scream <em>"Bored!"<em>

Meanwhile, Misty glares at him behind her copy of _Romeo and Juliet_. We decided to cast a director of sorts for each scene just to ensure a better performance. Obviously Misty is our only real option for Gary and I's collaboration. Gary is the director of Misty and Ash's because Misty claims it's only "fair" that the boys do some work too.

"Gary, try it **again**," Misty demands. We've been at the Oak's house for over half an hour, and we're **still **at the beginning of the scene.

"It is my lady. O, it is my love," Gary growls in frustration this time.

The way he's so bad with gushing about Juliet makes me wonder how he's even considered a play boy at PTSA. He's not that good looking that girls date him with no somewhat sincere form of a pick-up line, right?

_And, yet, it's crossed through your mind **several **times what it'd be like to date Gary._

Misty sighs, most likely contemplating what words to use to tell Gary how horrible at acting he is.

Meanwhile, I flip through my book again. I've already memorized my lines beforehand, but while I was waiting for Gary to finish his part, I reread my part** sixteen** times. I was getting extremely fed up with doing nothing but sitting here and listening to Gary mess up the scene and Misty telling him to restart.

"You know what," Misty slams her book on the coffee table frustratedly. "Take five, Leaf. I need to talk to Gary."

I reluctantly get up to go to the kitchen. Once there, I head over to the cupboard and get tap water from the sink. It had a lonely feel to it; but that was probably because we were alone in the house. Daisy was out with Bill.

Despite not being in the house for eight years, I knew the place as if I lived there.

I debate on getting a snack for the whole group from the pantry, but decided against it. Rummaging through other people's stuff was rude, anyway.

On my way back, I catch a bit of their conversation from the hallway.

"…too good for everyone else! I'm sick and tired of putting up with Leaf!"

At the sound of my name, I stop. Not daring to reveal myself, I push myself up against the wall and lean closer to the corner, attempting to hear more.

"Gary, can't you play nice or just pretend she's someone else while you're acting? There are consequences for more than just you if this scene turns out terrible. You two seriously need to work out whatever issues you have with each other!"

I slide down towards the floor and peer around the corner. Gary's face is contorted into a frown, and Misty's back is to me.

Gary snorts, "You'll have an easier time trying to get Ash to cut back on food."

"Gary." Misty sounds tired. "At least just run through the lines with me then."

And I listen as they run through the entire scene, Gary from memory and Misty from her book. Gary actually was a **really **good actor. He put so many emotions in his words and actions. Where was this when I was in the room earlier?

"See?" Misty says softly. "Just pretend Leaf's me and you should be okay."

Gary smiles slightly, "I **guess **I could do that. But I really wish I was partnered with you rather than **her.**"

I reel back, in shock and humiliation. I had always told Marina that Gary hated me, but truth be told, I had hoped that I was just overreacting. Unfortunately, I was right this time.

How had Gary's opinion of me sunk so low? I've never done anything to him! No wonder I had no friends at PTSA. He must have convinced everyone else that I was an untalented whelp or something.

…_..Just like he tried to with Misty on her first day!_

I bowed my head and covered my face as I felt tears coming on. I'm sure it was just because I didn't like having **anyone** (even Gary) hate me. Did I really seem that untalented and pathetic in real life? Why did he really hate me so much?

"_You're so pathetic."_

"Even **I **think I'm pathetic," I whisper to myself.

"_You didn't let me finish!" _My inner self scolds, "_You're pathetic because you let that jerk toy around with you like he does to all the other girls! Show him what you're made of and let him know that __**you're **__better than __**him**__!"_

I swipe away at my imaginary tears and clench my fists in indignation. All those years that I felt like **I **wasn't good enough for **him**, when really, I had it all backwards! My inner self was right! I shouldn't let Gary get to me!

I stalk into the room with such determination to prove Gary wrong that Misty actually looks at me in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." I answer brusquely. Those were the first words I've spoken in the whole half an hour to them.

Misty looks at Gary carefully, "Let's take it from the top, then."

Gary manages to make it through his lines, but with half of the effort he did with Misty. The annoying part of this was that he was already looking at Misty the whole time!

"_Whatever," _My inner self scoffed. _"He's too much of a coward that he can't look you in the eye."_

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet!" I manage to look directly at Gary. Somehow, my mind was able to let me imagine actually being Juliet confessing her love to Romeo.

Gary and Misty are completely silent during my part. When I finish, Gary starts his next lines, but with more effort. And this time, he actually looks at me in the eyes.

"_Clearly he's aware of his competition." _My inner self smirks.

We get so caught up in the lines and trying to outdo the other that we don't even notice that we're almost at the end of the scene.

"….Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say 'Good night' till it be morrow." When I'm done with my lines, I blink in surprise at how much desire is in my voice. To anyone outside of this room, it'd sound as if I actually loved Gary!

Even after Gary's finished up the scene, he's still staring straight at me.

But Misty interrupts us by clapping enthusiastically, "That was great, you guys! And Leaf, you got it on your first try!"

"_If I didn't know better," _My inner self frowns,_ "I'd say Misty was __**jealous**__."_

As we pack up our things to leave, only Misty attempts conversation. She's incredibly enthusiastic about the progress we've made. Gary walks us to the door, and I feel him watch me go back over next door.

I pause at the doorway, feeling brave enough to look back over at him.

Gary's green eyes are staring directly at me. I gaze back at him, and, before I could help it, I sent him a small smile.

Fortunately, I manage to open the door and get inside before I could do anything stupid or embarrassing.

_What was all that about?_

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, I'm not so sure about this chapter. I tried to do Gary's POV, but I personally think I didn't do too well.<strong>

**The project from the last chapter is continued in this one, and Leaf gets stuck playing Juliet to Gary's Romeo.**

**And through Gary's part, we learn that he thinks that Leaf is a faker. He knows that Leaf can definitely talk, but he thinks she refuses to because she believes she's too good for everyone else. Keep this in mind, because it's the first and main misunderstanding of "Midsummer Nightmare"!**

**On the contrary, Leaf's misunderstanding is that GARY thinks he's too good for her and everyone else. Eavesdropping on a conversation not meant for your ears can kinda do that to you.**

**Reviews are encouragement and what this story thrives on! Don't be afraid to send ANY form of a comment. I take CONSTRUCTIVE (not flaming or bashing) criticism. But what I mainly like (like most authors) is praise . Seriously, my ego could use some of it about now.**

**Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions!**


	5. Memories and Reminiscence

**Hey there! Sorry for taking so long to update! I've been kinda busy with school lately (Nobody really needs to know that much about math). Anyway, here's a chapter for all of my readers! It might be a little boring, but things will pick up soon, I promise. **

**Special thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter: ColbyDanielle and Spacebar!**

**Warning: Canon characters are most likely OOC.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, but I do own the OC's.**

* * *

><p>"<em>One two three, get off my father's apple tree!" I say, waiting for my best friends to get off the oak tree we'd decided was base. What a cheap move, staying on base for five minutes.<em>

"_Father's permission!" Ashy-boy shouts before my other friend could. _

"_You stink, Ash!" she squeals, sticking her tongue out him before dashing off. I run off in pursuit of her. _

"_You'll never catch me!" she shouts gleefully, giggling as she runs as fast as she can._

"_Got ya!" I shout, as my hand is just about to grab the tips of her fluttering chestnut hair._

"_Guess again!" Leaf laughs, as she all of a sudden comes to a halt._

_I stop in order to avoid colliding roughly with her, and she takes the delay to roll down the hill._

"_Catch me if you can!" she shouts amidst her rolling._

_I sigh reluctantly, and roll down after her._

_Leaf comes to a tumbling stop, giggling. There is grass in her hair, and her clothes are slightly stained._

_When I reach the bottom of the hill, I bump into her, and we become a tangled mess. _

"_Obnoxious girl!" I burst out. My hair was a mess and Daisy wasn't going to be too happy with my clothes._

_Leaf laughs in response, reaching over to poke me on the nose. "You're it!"_

_Then she runs back up the hill to the base, giggling the whole way._

"_Told ya, it'd work, Asher!" Leaf calls up._

"_Wait!" I scramble after her, still perplexed. "__**I**__ was the one it!"_

* * *

><p>Joltingly, I blink up at my alarm clock.<p>

….._3:47 a.m. _

I groan, burying my face in the pillow before chucking it across the room in frustration.

"Pesky girl."

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

A loud buzzing sound wakes me up. Groaning, I take a peek at my clock. _4:39 a.m._

My phone buzzes again, and I huff before I flip it open to my new text message.

' _Morning sleeping beauty. __'_

My fingers fumble with the keys while I type out the response.

'_Ur parents paying for ur txting again?'_

The response comes quick.

' _Yup __. So what's up in my bff's life?'_

I rub my eyes before setting off into the texting conversation that was sure to turn intense soon, guaranteed by what I was about to tell Marina.

'_Gary hates me. Confirmed fact.'_

' _How do u know?'_

I bit my lip, recalling the awful conversation that I happened to overhear. A part of me is ashamed and unwilling to tell Marina, despite the fact that she always manages to make me feel better. Maybe I didn't actually **want **to feel better.

'_He told misty that I wasn't worthy to even b in the same room as him'_

'_WHAT!? OMG, what a jerk! :U'_

'…_.what's w/ the weird emoticon?'_

'_experimenting. Any who kick his sorry butt!'_

Before I could come up with any response, Marina sends me another text.

'_u might want 2 find someone else 2 b ur boyfriend, btw ;) gtg, jimmy's here! __'_

"Ugh," I plop myself back down onto the pillow. For the next ten minutes, I attempt to fall back asleep, but, to no luck, I find myself staring at my ceiling.

Then, I hear a soft strumming sound coming from outside the house. Cautiously, I head to the window and pull back my curtain. To my surprise, Gary is wide awake too.

I watch him in the early morning light, with him strumming his guitar while in deep thought.

After a while, his strumming gets softer, as if he's suddenly conscious of his music. In order to compensate for the loss in volume, I pull my window up, just slightly. At first, the lock of the window doesn't budge, having not been used for the longest time. It eventually moves with my insist pushing, but it's still not enough for me to hear Gary's music as much as I want to.

I'm sorely tempted to just stick my head out the window, but to be so obvious would just be embarrassing. Nonetheless, I spend the next hour and a half by the window, listening intently to the boy-next-door play the guitar.

* * *

><p><strong>Misty<strong>

"So what do you think of Ash and I's scene?" I ask Gary while we're at our lockers. It's afterschool on Monday, a week before the presentation was due.

Gary shrugs, reaching in for his books to stuff into his bag. "Could use some more work."

"Some **more work**?!" I exclaim incredulously, "I spent a **lot **of time practicing and studying my lines!"

Gary merely shrugs again. He's about to say something when the loudspeakers turn on.

The condescending secretary, Miss Chantille, speaks in a peppy voice, feigning enthusiasm. Her job must be on the line or something. "And now, students, an announcement from the Student Council!"

A male voice takes her place. When he speaks, there is pride and cheeriness.

"Hey, Student Council President Nathaniel, here! As most of you know, the election for next year's student council was two weeks ago. After counting the results over and over again personally, the Student Council is pleased to announce our successors!"

He stops for a few minutes, and in that time I turn back to Gary.

"Ugh," I groan to Gary. "Back at Cerulean, the student council were basically chosen because of their popularity or looks."

"Actually," I add as an afterthought, "It's like that in every school."

Gary frowns, "Well, I guess PTSA isn't like every other school."

"No kidding," I mutter under my breath, "Or else you geniuses would have ended school two weeks ago, and I wouldn't be here."

"Not to mention," Gary adjusts the strap of his bag after casually slinging it over his shoulder, "Leaf would win if that was the case."

"Leaf's running?!" My jaw drops, and I'm aware that I'm loud enough to be heard from the end of the hall.

Even after knowing her for only a few days, I already identified Leaf's shy disposition. I was more determined to be friends with her when I realized that she actually didn't have many friends. All I recall her mentioning was a friend named "Marina".

Gary sighs, frustratedly pushing his spiky hair back. "Yeah, for Student Council President, in fact."

"Cool!" I clasp my hands together in excitement for her. Maybe student council could be the activity to get her out of her shell. "I would've so voted for her if I was here two weeks ago!"

"Yeah," Gary rolls his eyes in displeasure, "You and everybody else."

"So who's she running against?" I inquire curiously, ignoring his previous comment. "For Leaf to be more popular than them, they must be entirely unappealing as a person."

Gary doesn't smile. "Me."

"Oh." I look away, rubbing at my arm. _Awkward._

"Wait," I straighten back up, confusion in my mind. "Aren't **you **the most popular guy here? I mean, everybody in this school knows your name and stops to acknowledge you in the hallway. You even have a fan club and a freaking cheerleading squad just for you!"

Gary shrugs, as if to say 'It's not rocket science.'

"So you're saying that Leaf's just as popular as you at the very least?" My voice is completely incredulous.

It didn't make any sense. If she was, why wasn't Leaf as acknowledged as Gary was?

Gary only looks straight ahead, a bored and almost blank expression on his face. "For every popular boy, there's a popular girl. Besides, Leaf's responds to hers differently."

The loudspeaker clicks back on, and slight murmuring in the background is heard before anyone speaks.

"Sorry for that," a different, more feminine voice apologizes. "It appears that there's a new record for PTSA that we forgot to put in the school book."

Everyone in the hallway silently gasps. Apparently it was possible for a record to be set in a school that's only existed for a year or two. Then, again, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them finally cracked the laws of gravity. ….. Overachieving geniuses….

"But first," the voice continues, "I'll announce the treasurer!"

"Treasurer?" Gary says out loud in confusion.

"Don't you guys have a secretary?" I join in.

"They must have gotten rid of the position," Gary says thoughtfully, "After all, nobody ran for it this year."

"Why not?" I say incredulously.

Gary shrugs, "It's always been viewed as a joke ever since the scandal. The secretary doesn't really have any duty…unless you call running errands and getting lattes for her superiors anything."

Meanwhile, the voice goes on. "The treasurer for next year's student council is Sakari Saison!"

The name didn't seem too significant to me. It was slightly familiar, though.

Obviously the rest of the people in the hallway knew, because they all clapped and politely cheered. The only person who didn't was a black-haired girl from my English class. She was casually leaning against her locker while listening to her headphones. Her friend next to her nudged her, and she looked up at him, slightly startled.

Nathaniel takes the mic next. "The next position I'm going to announce is Vice-President."

Gary frowns, "Alice should be the one to broadcast who the next vice-president is since she **is** the current one."

"By a unanimous vote, Seth Sharperson has won the position!" Nathaniel declares.

The black-haired girl is listening this time, and claps politely while the whole hallway erupts into shouting and applause. Her friend looks evidently pleased and begins to walk over to us.

"Congratulations, Seth," Gary sticks his hands into the pockets of his pants casually.

"Thanks," Seth smiles, "I hope you win."

Gary snorts, "Probably not. You're the only guy who probably didn't vote for **her**."

"Actually," Seth's companion speaks up rather confidently, "statistically speaking, there is a 99.2351% chance that you and Leaf will be tied."

"Tied?" Gary spits out in confusion.

I agree with Gary mentally. How was that even possible in a school as numerous and vast as this? And how could that girl possibly calculate as specific as that?!

"Yes," the girl seems unfazed, "approximately half of the girls voted for you, and approximately half of the guys voted for Leaf. You two are the only ones running for student council president. The school population is evenly divided between the genders if you take out the seniors. You and Leaf could very well be tied or have a really close campaign."

Seth chuckles lightly, evidently amused at his friend's antics, "There's a reason for why Sakari is treasurer."

It takes a while for me to make the connection. "You're Sakari Saison from my English class!" I blurt out to the girl.

She merely nods her head in return.

"And now," Alice announces on the speaker, "for the president. I think you all know who won."

Gary tenses up. Even though Gary never mentioned running for president, I could tell it meant a lot to him.

Seth puts a reassuring hand on Gary's shoulder, "It's going to be okay, dude."

Alice continues, "**We **have all won. **We** now have an excellent student council ready for next year. I'm positive that they'll do better than our current student council."

Nathaniel takes the microphone, "We're pleased to announce that the president is….."

Alice and Nathaniel speak at the same time, "Gary Oak and Leaf Green!"

* * *

><p><strong>Gary<strong>

When the Student Council president and vice-president announced my name and Leaf's together, I froze.

_How could this happen? _

Meanwhile, Misty and Seth are confused too.

"Two presidents?" Misty asks.

Seth shakes his head, tossing an amused glance at Sakari. "Guess you're right."

"Of course," Sakari says matter-of-factly. She smiles, mimicking Seth's tone from earlier. "There's a reason for why Sakari's treasurer."

"Told you," Seth turns to me, drawing back his fist.

I fist bump him, still in shock the whole time.

_A tie?_

Then I hear loud applause as everyone gathers to the side, towards the lockers.

I knew what was going to happen next.

Quite predictably, Leaf's the one they cleared the hallways for. She walks past everyone with not a glance of acknowledgment. No words or smiles. Just a blank expression as she heads straight towards me. As she does, I get a flashback of yesterday's practice.

"_You done writing yet?" I impatiently sigh, as I look up from my laptop._

_Leaf's sitting down on the floor scrawling away on the coffee table. We were practicing again at my house, and Misty was busy working with Ash in the study on the interpretation essay. No doubt, it'd have been way easier to do this part with the girls than Ash, as he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. _

_She doesn't answer, evidently too caught up in whatever part of the interpretation essay she's writing. _

_I groan as I look back at my own screen, my half already neatly typed and perfectly formatted._

_Why was Leaf so stubborn in wanting to write rather than type it? It was certainly a lot faster and easier to type than to write it all out._

_Eventually, I get bored with rereading my half, and I (albeit randomly) decide to observe Leaf instead._

_Her eyebrows are crinkled in concentration, and her hazel brown eyes dart back and forth between the two papers she has spread out in front of her. Her chestnut brown hair dips down from her ear as she leans forward._

_Without meaning to, my eyes lower to the bottom part of her face, where her lips are. For some reason, I am intrigued with that sight for a while. Luckily, I manage to snap out of it before Leaf notices._

"_Done!" Leaf announces as she pushes the papers forward. We're unofficially on speaking terms now, at least during our weekend practices. And even then, we only speak when necessary and only about the project. _

_Her eyes glimmer with satisfaction, and with the way the sunlight is reaching through the windows and highlighting her hair, Leaf looks…_

_I shake my head to clear those thoughts. They weren't welcome in my head. _

A part of me wonders whether that girl I saw two days ago was real or not. That smile and its genuinity had frozen me up and made me really ponder Leaf's true intentions. Was she the kind of girl who was real, deep inside, far away from school and the popularity?

Leaf stops short of me, hesitating.

"Congratulations," Sakari smiles at Leaf, shocking both Seth and I when she pulls Leaf in for a hug.

It was common knowledge at PTSA that Leaf had nobody she'd consider a friend here. All of her friends were back at the exotic Sevii Island.

"Thanks," Leaf says, just barely loud enough for us to hear. "You too."

Then she turns to Seth, smiling at him shyly, "And congratulations on the unanimous vote, you deserved it."

Seth grins, "All the hard work paid off, I guess."

She smiles at him one last time before turning to me.

She hesitates, and then slowly extends her hand out towards me.

"Handshake?" she quietly asks me.

_A little girl with a smile that can light up any room looks up at me. "Best friends forever?"_

I glance at her, trying to understand by reading the emotion in her eyes. I honestly had no idea what she was really up to, but we **were** supposed to set the example for the school. Exemplifying teamwork and collaboration would be a good idea.

"_Sure," replies a boy with all the confidence a person shouldn't have. "Forever….."_

"Congratulations," we both say at the same time, as I shake her hand.

"…_.and ever"_

* * *

><p><strong>Ash<strong>

_Pikachu, thunder shock and kill me now!_

Despite my mental command, Pikachu does nothing, only rolling over from his comfortable position on the pillow cushion. I guess the rumor about really bonded trainers having the ability to telepathically communicate with their pokémon is untrue. After all, Pikachu and I are the **bestest** buds you could ever find in two people….er person and pokémon.

"Ash!" Misty pokes at me again. "Say your line!"

I stare at her blankly, racking my head for whatever I'm supposed to say. "Juliet, you're…ah…dead…Now I'm sad."

"ASH!" Misty growls in frustration. The likelihood of her mallet coming out has increased. "You're hopeless!"

"Yeah," Gary agrees from the sidelines, "Get to memorizing your lines, Ashy boy."

Meanwhile, Leaf, the only one who hasn't said anything, vacantly stares out the living room window.

"Well," Gary finally sighs, running his hands through his porcupine-like hair. "Let's just call it quits for the day."

"No!" Misty protests at the same time that I victoriously pump my fists in the air.

"Leaf," Misty turns to her, "don't you think we should keep practicing?"

"I suppose," Leaf says dully. She says nothing else.

"See?" Misty says triumphantly. "Leaf agrees. We should keep practicing; we only have a week left."

Gary shrugs, "Whatever floats your boat, Mist. I, on the other hand, am going to take a break."

With that, he walks out of the room, probably to the kitchen. Not before giving Leaf a weird look, though. I get up to follow him, thinking of the possibility that Daisy refilled their cookie jar, but Misty grabs the end of my jacket and pulls me back down.

"I'll work with Ash," Leaf suddenly says, at last walking away from the window.

Misty's eyes narrow, but she doesn't pursue the matter. She gets up to go to the kitchen too.

"So how have you been, Asher?" Leaf says quietly. Her old nickname for me.

"Umm…fine…." I answer albeit awkwardly. The last time we really interacted was when we were battling. Of course, we never got to finish, as she freaked for some reason when I sent Swellow out.

Leaf reaches up to play with her hair. Some habits never die.

In the moment of silence, I cast a glance at the sleeping Pikachu. Guess he won't be any help.

"What happened to us?" Leaf finally huffs out quietly. "I thought we were friends….best friends…"

I look at her in surprise. Gary had always told me that when Leaf came back, her disassociation with us was by her choice. Even though Gary was frustratingly annoying and he and I argued over everything back then, I had listened to him.

"I dunno." I reply honestly. Because, really, I didn't. I didn't understand how Leaf and Gary just rifted apart, and how I ended taking Gary's side despite me being neutral to it all.

Leaf bites her lip, and, for an awful moment, I think she's about to cry. That would've been terrible if she actually did. Mist would beat the living crud out of me if she thought I made Leaf cry.

"Let's practice," Leaf responds after a few moments. She smiles at me sadly, "Asher…"

* * *

><p><strong>Misty<strong>

Curiosity was eating away at me. Gary now had the same vacant look Leaf had earlier, staring out the kitchen window.

"Do you think Ash is going to be ready by next week?" I ask, sidling up to Gary. Not the question that I wanted to ask, but it was only thing that jumped into my head at the moment to prevent awkward silence.

Gary shrugs, "You know him. Ashy boy may pull through, or he may fall flat on his face."

"Though," Gary adds with a hint of a smile, "Ashy boy falling flat on his face would no doubt be hilarious to watch."

"But what about our grades?" I bring up the concern.

Gary gives me a look, "**Our** grades? Mist, you're only temporarily going to this school."

"So?" My cheeks flush red indignantly. "I don't like failing!"

Gary scoffs, "You and I both." The conversation lapses into silence.

"So why **do** you and Leaf have an issue with each other?" The question comes out of my mouth before I can think of any other, more subtle ways of asking.

"We don't." Gary says simply.

"I'm not stupid, Gary," I retort. "You guys don't get along too well."

"I didn't say anything to her." Gary counters defensively. "We don't argue like you and Ashy boy."

"Yes," I agree. "But you always disagree with each other. And then there're the weird looks that you two share."

Gary's silent for a few moments. "What weird look?" he asks, genuinely confused.

"I dunno," My hands gesture in the air crazily. "You guys just do!"

"Leaf's just a girl that you can't ever impress. She'll always want the best; the more exotic things in life." Gary finally says. "That's why I don't really like her. She was never happy with what she had."

"That's not true!" I protest. "Leaf's a nice person!"

"To you maybe," Gary gives me a cold look. "But that's probably because **you're** the cool new transfer from Cerulean City who also happens to be a Sensational Sister."

"All she wants is attention, but she won't acknowledge anybody anyway." Gary continues. "She's selfish and conceited, and she's constantly pretending to be mute in order to avoid talking to people lower than her expectations."

"Gary," I say in frustration. My mallet was usually reserved for Ash's head, but Gary was being pretty stupid and aggravatingly annoying. "I asked you why you and Leaf had a problem, not to hate on her!"

"Sorry, Mist." Gary shrugs nonchalantly. But I could tell from the tone in his voice that he was **not** sorry. Then he strides out of the room, back to where Ash is probably failing miserably at his lines.

I decided, right then and there, that I was going to clear up any misconceptions between Leaf and Gary, even if it took me the whole summer.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, I'm still working on my chapter endings. I'm pretty bad at Ash and Misty's POV, as well as Gary's but whatever. I was rereading the <em>Giver<em> a while ago, and Asher just struck me as similar to Ash. I put a little of Leaf and Ash interaction, because, hey, they were childhood friends too. The part about Leaf and Gary being the future school presidents is nothing really. Just keep it in mind for the eventual sequel of this story ;)**

**Anyway, I'm really interested to know your general reaction to this chapter, and which part is your favorite. It would also help if you told me which POV you want more or what kind of things you'd like to see more in the story. Thanks in advance to whoever is still reading this!**

**Please give me your commnents, opinions, and suggestions!**


	6. The Drama Begins

**Hello! It's been awhile, and I apologize. I felt really bad about not updating lately so I'm...****-_-**

**...updating a rather long and sucky-content wise chapter. I haven't even bothered editing it for grammar's sake, so you guys could just private message me anything you spot. Technically, I'm not supposed to be submitting anything because I still have yet to study for my finals next week...yipee.**

**ANYWAY, the chapter's content may feel rushed and underdeveloped because...it is. I'm moving the pace to be a little faster so I can actually get to the rising action part. **

**Warning: Characters may OOC, and chapter is extremely long. Try to read all in one sitting.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Period.**

* * *

><p><strong>Misty<strong>

It turns out that persuading Gary to at least give Leaf a fair chance to prove herself a human being in his own terms is almost close to impossible. I've spent the last week or so with Gary trying to subtly make him see Leaf's good points, but he simply refuses to.

I don't think Leaf minds so much. She seems to be wary of Gary at the very least and prefers to hang out with Ash instead. I shudder to think of the possibility that Leaf has a crush on him. I mean, a girl like her with a dense guy like him? She'd have to have large amount of patience for that.

We're currently over at the Ketchum's residence, and, speaking of the two, Ash and Leaf's laughter spill out from the kitchen to where Gary and I are in the living room.

"What do you think they're talking about in there?" I ask out loud.

It wasn't really intended for Gary. He's most likely going to respond with a "who cares?".

"Probably not Shakespeare," Gary scowls.

….or not.

Eventually, the laughter fades a little and the last two members of our group come down the hallway.

"Sorry we took so long," Leaf smiles as she plops down next to me on the carpet. "Ash and I had a bet to settle."

"The bet was that I couldn't eat the whole batch of cookies in one sitting and keep it down," Ash grins victoriously, puffing his chest out in pride. "And I could".

Leaf shoots him an amused look. "No, you couldn't. You missed the last one."

Ash shoots an accusing finger at her. "Only because you took it before I could eat it!"

"Still not a whole batch!" Leaf points out gleefully. "I won."

"Only because you cheated!" Ash argued. But unlike our arguments, Ash's voice was playful.

"We didn't establish any rules, Asher! You should know me better than that." Leaf wags a finger at him disapprovingly.

Clearly the two had forgotten about Gary and I being in the room, because they just carried on as if we weren't there. And am I the only one slightly irked with the 'Asher' nickname Leaf had given Ash?!

"Enough!" Gary finally clears his throat. His face is slightly red as he gives off an aura of annoyance. "We have a practice to finish up!"

He shoots Ash a dark look, "And you, Ashy Boy, need it especially. If you don't start getting better, we'll all fail the project."

"Ash isn't that bad," Leaf defends. "He just needs a little help in getting the words down."

Gary snorts, rolling his eyes before mumbling something under his breath. I don't quite catch it, but the end of it sounds suspiciously like 'pesky girl'.

Leaf's face reddens, and she must be feeling bold because what she says next is totally uncharacteristic of her.

"Ash may need a little assistance in the drama department, but clearly you need a **lot **of help with your attitude!"

Everyone's eyes widen slightly at Leaf's outburst, including Leaf herself, but she quickly narrows her eyes at Gary.

"Oh yeah?" Gary's palms slam onto the table as he stands to loom over her. "That's downright _hilarious_ coming from you."

"Please," Leaf scoffs, standing up too. "You have the worst sense of humor. And I knew that you haven't really 'changed' for the better. You're still the same egotistical jerk you always were!"

Their argument seemed to escalate quickly. I cast a glance towards Ash, who seems more uncomfortable than I am.

"I have changed!" Gary roars, "It's you that's a self-centered, condescending, little brat!"

"Excuse me?!" Leaf says indignantly. In the past minute or so, her voice has reached a volume that I've never heard from her. She usually spoke in a whisper or a quiet voice.

"You heard me," Gary practically sneers at her, "Miss-pretend-to-be-mute."

"I don't pretend to be _anything_!" Leaf protests. "But I guess whatever your stupid brain thinks goes, because you've turned every single person that we know _against_ me!"

"I do not! It's not my fault that there are _some _highly-evolved people who can see through your little act!"

"By 'highly-evolved' do you mean the stupid little short-skirt wearing cheerleading squad that clings onto every word you say?!"

I've been too busy switching my gaze back and forth between the two brunettes to notice that Ash has already began to angrily gnash his teeth together.

"Those girls are of the past; when I was only freaking ten years old! And at least they're not such attention seeking-"

"Attention seeking _what_? I _dare_ you to finish that statement, Gary Oak!"

"I think we both know what I was about to say."

"I'm sorry, but I don't make assumptions like you do. You know what assuming does."

"_Hardy-har-har_. And _sure _you don't_. _That's why as soon as you were forced back here, you _assumed _that the rest of us-"

"ENOUGH!" Ash finally thunders. "SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!"

Both of the arguing teens fall silent as they stare at Ash incredulously.

"I've always done nothing in the past," Ash angrily states in a lower volume, "but I'm not just going to stand here and listen to you guys argue anymore. Maybe you guys don't believe it, but I'm not _that _stupid."

With that, Ash stalks out of the room and back to the kitchen. Gary and Leaf both whirl around to look at me, as if they're just remembering that Ash and I were there.

"Oh, Arceus," Leaf claps her hands over her mouth in horror.

Gary just sighs loudly and runs his hand through his hair frustratedly. The two lock eyes before quickly turning away and going to opposite sides of the room. Leaf crosses her arms and angrily stares out the window, while Gary sulks by the bookcase, scowling at his grandfather's collection of poetry.

Clearly they weren't going to do anything, so I go after Ash.

* * *

><p>"You okay?" I inquire quietly as I come up behind a fuming Ash. He angrily frowns into the distance as Pikachu, seemingly oblivious to his trainer's mood, laps down a whole bowl of ketchup.<p>

"I'm fine," Ash replies tersely. "I'm just so fed up with those two."

"I never knew that Leaf and Gary had such a problem getting along," I comment as I sit down next to him at the table.

"They've argued before," Ash grumbles, "back when we were all _kids_. And it was never really serious."

"But?" I press. I knew that this had a 'but' statement added to it.

"They've never flat out insulted each other like that. Gary would call Leaf pesky, and Leaf would call Gary a meanie jerk or something like that." Ash's face takes on a slightly worried expression as he fiddles around with the small bowl Pikachu had been eating from.

Pikachu squeals in dismay as he bounds around the table, trying to catch the bowl from Ash's finger.

"Well," I attempt to be positive. "at least they've cleared the air and said what they felt."

Ash snorts, "They haven't even really dipped into their issues with each other. Gary, I know for a fact, has much more to say."

I sigh, "Why _does_ Gary not like Leaf so much? Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel as if he's the one doing most of the fighting."

"It's not my place to tell you why," Ash's voice is serious as he stares at the table top, "_especially_ when I don't know the answer myself."

* * *

><p>Later that day, we decide to all go to the library to brush up on our essays. Gary insisted that we could just easily get the information from the internet, but Leaf pushed that books were much more reliable.<p>

"No one in their right mind would come here on a Saturday," Gary grumbles as the library door closes behind him.

The Pallet Town Public Library (what a mouthful) is a somewhat-modern two story building. It's humid outside, as it's almost summer, but the library is delightfully cool from the running air condition.

Leaf ignores the subtle dig at her. She was the one who suggested the library, after all.

"We better not be kicked out," Leaf throws a pointed glare in Gary's direction. "I don't want my membership revoked."

"Okay," I laugh uneasily as I step in-between them. "why don't we all split up and look for books on Shakespeare?"

"It's in the tragic plays section," Gary says.

"Romeo and Juliet isn't a true Elizabethan tragedy," Leaf argues pointedly. Her voice is cool and detached.

"Fine." Gary narrows his eyes. "You go look wherever the Arceus you want, but I'm going there."

The two scowl at each other before heading off in separate directions.

_Oh boy._

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

My eyes scan the bookshelves for any possible sources I could use for our Shakespeare paper. I was in the reference section, but I couldn't find anything.

I swear, if Gary was right….

"Hello," a sudden voice to my right startles me.

Blinkingly, I look to see a girl about my age with dark black hair and intense grey eyes. It was Alice Au, the current vice-president of the student council.

She smiles at me, showing me her pearly whites, "It's such a pleasure to run into you, Leaf Green. You're highly commended by your teachers and popular among the rest of your peers. I'm glad knowing the school is left in your hands."

"T-thank you," I stammer as my cheeks redden. "I just always try my best."

Words like those were a great compliment from Alice. She was known as the serious and logical one in the council. The "brains" if you will.

_Ha, take THAT, Gary._

A masculine voice comes from behind her, "Aw, look, Alice. She's modest too."

The guy walks right next to Alice, linking arms with her. Nathaniel Knight's hand slips into Alice, confirming my thought that the two were together.

It wasn't necessarily a tradition, but so far, the PTSA's President and Vice-President were of opposite genders who ended up going out with each other. I didn't know if the same thing applied to me and Gary, as we were the future co-presidents. The part of me that's furious with him refuses to acknowledge this, while the disgustingly masochistic half of me sort of hopes that it could happen….eventually.

Was it possible to both hate and be crushing on a person at the same time? To have battling and conflicting emotions constantly fighting for your attention? Half of the time, I wanted to just melt when I was around Gary, while the other half was spent wishing he'd just fall off the face of the earth.

"Mr. Fuwacchi's Shakespeare projects, huh?" Nathaniel cheerfully asks. His 100 megawatt smile completes his blond hair, blue-eyed boyish look.

He's just as smart as Alice, but he is never completely serious in the face of the student body. He is cheery and friendly, and it suits him well.

I numbly give them a nod.

I practically idolized them. They were upperclassmen who always managed to be effective yet popular. They were by far, the best student council PTSA has ever had, and would probably remain in that spot. Unless Sakari and Seth could somehow pull Gary and I to work together.

"I'd bring the library's dictionary to your research table if I were you," Alice suggests. "Nat and I had to constantly refer to it when we wrote the paper. Mr. Fuwacchi likes definitions given in the essay."

"It's the big one on the stand," Nathaniel adds as the two begin to walk away. "It's ancient looking. You can't possibly miss it."

"It was nice to talk to you!" Alice calls over her shoulder as they turn out of sight.

I head over to the beginning of the reference section. In the center of the second-floor, there's a glass stand with a _huge_ book perched on it. Nathaniel was right; it was old-looking. It reminded in a way of those ancient magic books in those fantasy books that were always so thick; this one was no different. It was probably as thick as the fluffy mattress on my bed.

Hesitantly, my hands reach out to lift it up. My arms almost immediately drop the ginormous book back onto the glass stand. It was so freaking heavy! If I wanted to carry it down to the first floor where we were supposed to meet, I might as well have kicked it down the stairs instead.

"Psst! Leaf!" Misty hisses to me through the bookshelf to my left, interrupting my thoughts of somehow moving the dictionary.

What the-?

"Quick!" Misty has rounded around the bookshelf by then and grabs me by the arm. "We gotta hide!"

Before I could form any coherent sentence, Misty is practically dragging me across the library. We zigzag around several bookcases before she finally stops and ducks down. She tugs at my arm and I confusedly follow suit.

"What did you do?" I whisper to her.

Did she upset the security guard out front? He was surly and serious looking. Like he'd tolerate no sort of horse-play in the library. He also had a taser, and seemed to have no problem if he had to use it on rowdy teenagers.

Misty laughs, "Nothing!

"Then why are we-?" I start to ask.

"Gary's coming!" Misty's full of merriment as she gets up and starts to _run_ in the library.

"C'mon," she calls after me. "This is the most fun I've had since I've came here!"

I scurry after her, "Why are we running away from him?"

"I dunno!" Misty uncharacteristically giggles. "It just pisses him off. It's hilarious to do that, and I'm just bored here!"

Huh. She must've been really bored then. It was true that Gary was fun to poke at, but I didn't think that Misty would ever take pleasure in what used to be my hobby as a child.

Laughter's contagious though. Even though it's stupid, it's amusing and thrilling to dash around the second-floor of the library, turning around and avoiding any footsteps that might happen to be Gary.

Misty and I are separated at one point, though. I nearly collide with her when I frantically turn to avoid oncoming footsteps.

We both laugh loudly, stopping for a brief second.

"C'mon," I gesture to Misty with my hand as we try to quietly sneak through in the opposite direction of where the footsteps were.

"Having fun?"

I jump as I round the end of the bookshelf. I had begun to look left and right, but when I had turned back to my left, I suddenly found myself face-to-face with Gary Oak.

I let out a little scream of surprise, and Gary's eyes widen, clearly startled, before narrowing.

"Are you two a bunch of little kids?!" Gary hisses, but I can see amusement in his green eyes. "You tell me not to get us kicked out, but then you run around giggling like a bunch of preschoolers!"

"It's not her fault-" Misty begins.

A large shadow looms over the three of us.

The big security guard is standing menacingly over us. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to request that you leave. _Now._"

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you three got us kicked out of the library," Ash shakes his head disapprovingly at us as he stuffs another spoon of frozen yogurt into his mouth.<p>

Pikachu bobs his little head as his little paw scoops some of the yogurt too.

"I can't believe it." Gary mumbles disbelievingly to the table we're sitting at in _Chilly Cherubi_.

The frozen yogurt shop was just across the street from the library. Ash, of all people, had found the necessary books and checked it out. When he couldn't find us (in all honesty, I don't think he looked too hard…or even on the second floor), he went across the street to get frozen yogurt.

"_Ashy Boy_ wasn't the one to get us kicked out of a public place," Gary continues, his face buried into his arms.

It was true. While Misty and I had behaved rather….rowdy, we weren't the ones who provoked the security guard. And technically, Gary had run around the library too when he was chasing us.

"I don't know about you," Misty shrugs, "but that's the most fun I've had this summer. Not that that says much."

"Me too," I agree without thinking.

Gary gives me a weird look. His green eyes show curiosity while his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"I mean," I shift uncomfortably as I attempt to explain myself. "it's been a long time since I've ever done anything somewhat exciting here."

Gary's eyes dim and he looks away from me. Whatever interest- positive or negative- had faded from him.

"I've got to go," Gary gets up to leave. "I'm helping Gramps today with one of his new projects."

_What did I say wrong?_

* * *

><p>Come Monday morning, I find myself breathing heavily and tightly gripping my bed sheets. I had that nightmare again. I have to take several deep breaths in order to calm myself, and even then, I'm still feeling edgy.<p>

Even though Eevee is probably sleeping, I reach over onto my nightstand and release her from her pokéball. She rubs her eyes with her paw before looking at me curiously.

"Sorry, Eevee," I reach out to grab her. She complies and nuzzles up to me. Now that she knows what's going on, she licks my cheek and attempts to make me smile.

I don't know what I'd do without Eevee. I'd never survive the nightmares without her.

I glance at the clock. 3:58. I had at least another hour or so before Gary would wake up and start softly playing his guitar.

It was weird how Gary's guitar playing began to fall into my morning routine. The best part of it all was that it was all a secret. Gary clearly didn't know that I listened to him, and Daisy and Professor Oak seemed completely clueless to Gary even playing guitar. As far as they know, he gave it up back in third grade.

_Gary Oak_.

Why did I say those things to him that day? I had been irked that up until Misty's arrival he had been ignoring me, but I would have never voiced that aloud to him or anyone else.

Was it because of the way he treated Ash? Maybe it was conceited of me to think this, but I felt as if he had only scolded Ash because he was playing around with me. Then there was also what I had said at the yogurt shop that caused him to leave. It was an innocent statement, but I had a feeling that it just condemned me to Gary's disdain for the rest of my life.

I carefully take out one of the oldest gifts I had gotten from Dad: a poké flute. My fingers shakily play out the melody of the trill I usually play after these nightmares. It was a tribute to my mysterious savior, and it always made me feel safe.

I don't know how, but time passes by quickly. I even miss Gary's guitar playing this morning. I never heard it, too caught up in playing my own music.

Today was finally the day of the presentation, and it's been about two days since that day at the library. Misty's been spending extra time with Gary lately, for some reason, but I was sure it was just to rehearse.

_Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Leaf._

Ash was always free during those times, though, so he and I often worked on his scene and any of our homework together. There were always these moments we had where I felt as if we hadn't gone on for eight years practically being strangers, but they were always trailed by these awkward moments that just reminded me of the fact that Ash was no longer my friend. It's depressing to think of now, so I push the thought out of mind

* * *

><p>"Morning," I say to Mom as I pass by her in the kitchen. She's reading the morning newspaper as usual. In her hand, she holds a steaming mug of herbal tea.<p>

Mom says nothing in return. No cheery response or sage advice that she spews out after reading what she calls her 'daily dose of motherhood'.

I share a look with Eevee, but she just licks her paw, most likely imagining it as food.

A few minutes later, I'm spreading the jam on my toast, and Eevee is already gobbling down her own toast.

Mom had left the table, but she comes back in as I'm putting the jam away.

"Leaf," Mom says quietly. "This came in the mail for you."

I look at what she slides across the table. A large brown package with a big red bow.

Somewhat apprehensively, I examine the label on the box. "Sevii Islands," I read aloud.

"Must be your father," Mom says dully. She looks away, almost like she's not looking forward to what's about to happen.

Dad, feeling guilty for not being more active in my life other than in the summer, often sends rather (_ahem!_) expensive gifts. It wasn't necessary, and it always made me feel slightly bad, but Dad always assured me that "his little princess deserved it". Besides, he says, being the head researcher on Sevii Islands pays a lot.

But I wasn't always the one feeling bad: Mom did as well. She couldn't afford expensive gifts for me without occasion with the salary she had. She already had to support the both of us with the help of Dad's welfare checks.

"Well," I shrug, deciding to take pity on her. "I guess I'll have to open it later. I have to leave for school in a few minutes."

I cast a glance at my breakfast-or at least, where it used to be. My slice of toast has now been replaced by a very small amount of crumbs.

I glare accusingly at Eevee, who looks back at me innocently.

Eevee, after eating the remains of my toast, hops onto my shoulders and nuzzles my cheek, as if to ask for forgiveness. I laugh and grab my bag to leave, but Mom stops me.

"You might want to open it now," Mom says. "Or at least read the letter that came with it."

She hands an envelope over to me as well. I notice that its seal has already been opened.

"You've already read it, haven't you?" I accuse my mom. Whatever the content was must have upset my mom.

"Leaf," Mom starts.

I clutch the letter tightly. "And it's bad news, isn't it?"

"Leaf, honey," Mom pleads. "Just read it."

Quickly, I scan through the contents of the letter.

_Dear Leaf,_

_Your old Dad has finally found that perfect someone to spend the rest of their life with. I've been dating a wonderful woman named Mona, and by the time you're reading this letter, she'll hopefully have agreed to being my fiancée. _

_Now you might be wondering why I'm telling you this, and why now. Well, first is simply the fact that Mona may possibly become a new member of the family. The second, though, is that, unfortunately, I will be too busy this summer to spend time with you. A new breakthrough has been made, and my project will require all of my time. I also sent a letter to your Mom to ask her if you may stay with her during the time that you're usually here. We'll spend time together during the last few weeks before your school starts up again. _

_I'm really sorry that I won't be able to spend time with you on your birthday like we usually do, but I hope my birthday present for you makes up for it._

_ Love always,_

_Dad_

"That's why I'm upset," Mom says softly when she sees that I'm done reading.

Instantly, I feel terrible for my mom. She'd never admit it, but she's still madly in love with Dad. To hear that he moved on and was calling another woman that "special someone to spend the rest of his life with" was probably a major slap to the face.

"I can't spend your own birthday with you," Mom continues. Her eyes turn downcast, and she looks so guilty.

I freeze, suddenly feeling hollow. Of course, I forgot. Every year, Mom's company makes her go to a mandatory conference. There are only two available slots for conferences per year: one happens to be on my birthday itself, and the other around Thanksgiving. Mom never wanted to leave me alone on Thanksgiving, and because I've been celebrating my birthday with Dad ever since the divorce, she always scheduled her conference to be on my birthday.

"So I'm alone on my birthday?" my voice threatens to crack and I almost instantly feel empty.

I couldn't spend my birthday with Mom or with Dad and Marina on Sevii Island. So much for a sweet sixteen….

"Leaf, honey," Mom pleads. "You know that I didn't intend for things to turn out this way….your father probably didn't either."

A sudden knock on the door interrupts the conversation, and, without another word to my mom, I answer the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Gary<strong>

I knew the moment that Misty showed up at my doorstep at five thirty in the morning that she was up to something.

"What're you doing here?" I narrow my eyes at Misty suspiciously.

Misty smiles, "I was thinking we could all walk to school together." She pulls up a very sleepy looking Ash next to her.

I sigh, "School doesn't start for another forty five minutes, Mist."

"The early bird catches the worm," Misty's smile seems more enforced now. Her eyes are warning me to go along with it or else.

_Hmm, let Misty in now, while I still have all my body parts intact, or let Misty in later, after she beats me to a pulp?_

"We're having pancakes for breakfast," I finally say, rather begrudgingly.

Ash immediately perks up, and Pikachu has to tightly cling to Ash's hat as Ash sprints to the kitchen.

"You're drooling, Ashy boy!" I shout after him, rolling my eyes.

"I'll be back in a minute," Misty suddenly says, as I turn back to her. "You guys go ahead and start eating without me."

I know immediately then that whatever Misty's doing has to do with Leaf. After all, she's been hanging around me for the past few days, switching between subtly bringing up Leaf to outright demanding that I try to work things out with her. Why she was wasting her time, trying to get Leaf and I to be friends was a complete mystery to me. After all Ash will stop eating before Leaf and I fix the huge rift between us.

But admittedly, Leaf Green's been awfully interesting to examine lately.

_Arceus, I sound like some creeper._

"Okay," I pretend to go along with her plan, turning to follow Ash to the kitchen. "Can't guarantee that Ashy boy wouldn't have eaten all of the pancakes by then."

She laughs, and then heads out the door. I notice out of the corner of my eyes, her face of relief and how she subtly checks if I'm trying to follow her.

Once the front door closes shut behind her, I walk back down the hallway towards the door. I trail her, trying my best to be at distance where she wouldn't recognize me following her.

I watch as she knocks on Leaf's door.

They then begin to start up a conversation, and Misty seems to be insisting something to Leaf, her hands motioning to emphasize whatever point she is making. I can't hear a word of what she's saying so I walk up closer, in plain sight. Because, frankly, people only look for what is odd in a situation, not what is normal. Leaf and Misty would be more likely to realize my presence if I just ducked into a nearby bush.

"I already ate," Leaf says in response to whatever Misty is pitching to her.

I have a feeling that Misty's inviting her over for breakfast….

"Leaf!" Ms. Green comes out from behind her, evidently listening in on the conversation too. "Go eat with your friend! That pathetic excuse for breakfast will not sustain you until lunch!"

"But Gary himself didn't invite me over," Leaf points out.

"You're friends, aren't you?" Ms. Green cheerfully waves off Leaf's logic.

Hmm… that would explain why she's so nice to me all the time. She still thinks that Leaf and I are friends, I guess.

"Besides," Ms. Green gestures to where I am a few steps behind them. "Gary's right there waiting."

Misty whips around to look at me, and Leaf blinks as she just notices me.

Arceus, Ms. Green was clever. Leaf couldn't turn Misty's offer down without "offending me", and I couldn't retract the invitation not even given by me without coming off as a rude jerk to Ms. Green. With that one sentence, Ms. Green was able to mess up my schedule and put in me in a bad position.

I finally found where Leaf got her peskiness from.

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

I stood nervously behind the stage curtain in the auditorium. All sorts of butterfrees and beautyflies were fluttering around in my stomach. Would I be able to perform in front of almost everyone in the school?!

I bite my lip.

What if I screwed up and ruined it for the whole group?

"Relax," a low voice intones into my ear as a warm hand claps down onto my shoulder from behind.

"But what if I mess up?" I whisper. "I'll look stupid."

Gary's hands turn me to face him. More butterfrees rise in my stomach.

"You'll do _fine_," Gary assures me. He is being uncharacteristically nice to me.

"Besides," he adds, looking me up and down, "you look good."

_Oh. THAT's why._

I take a step back from him and cross my arms over my chest uncomfortably.

My white nightgown was a little too…._small_ for lack of a better term. But it was what Juliet wore in the movie adaption of the balcony scene, and I had no choice but to wear it.

"I can't wait until it's all over," I close my eyes and rest my head against my hand.

"Yeah," Gary agrees, but his voice is hollow.

My eyes snap open in surprise at the sudden change in tone.

What did I say wrong this time?

"I mean," I attempt to save myself from whatever hole I just dug myself into, but nothing comes to mind.

I duck my head in embarrassment, wishing the ground could swallow me whole. Why did I _never_ know what to say to Gary when I wasn't angry with him?!

I fiddle with my charm bracelet haphazardly. Normally I'd attach it to an old friendship chain and wear it around my neck, but the nightgown would not conceal the necklace.

"You should probably take that off," Gary coldly suggests to me after watching me play around with the silver accessory. "You can wear Daddy's little trinket later."

There he goes again. Acting as if I was some spoiled child who needed to be desperately put in her place.

I resist the urge to hold the bracelet in his face and ask him if he _really_ thought it was a gift from my father. But I didn't, because the truth was in front of Gary already. If he didn't go looking for it, then I couldn't do anything.

Misty silently brushes past us at that moment. Her fists are clenched and she mutters some of her lines in quick, hushed words.

Gary squeezes her hand in reassurance as she passes by. The action doesn't go unnoticed by me, and I feel slightly jealousy come over me.

_Quit being such a masochist and stop caring for him!_ my inner self scolds me. I've never really satisfied her before, so I ignore her.

Misty takes a deep breath before laying on the narrow bed that we decided to use as part of her funeral shroud. She lays the cloth over her head, leaving it untucked in places for the sake of breathing. She folds her hands and closes her eyes.

Even in the darkness, I can see Ash dashingly dressed as Romeo on the other side of the stage. His hand is on his rapier, and Pikachu is perched on his shoulder.

Ash gives me a nod, and Gary and I pull the curtains open. Pikachu bounds off of his shoulder and Ash strides onto center stage.

Looking at the 'dead' Misty, Ash declares somewhat shakily at first, "A grave? O, no. A lantern, slaughtered youth, for here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light."

I grin, proud of Asher and his hard work. I give him a thumbs-up when he quickly glances towards the side of the stage for approval.

As he goes through his performance, Ash gains more confidence.

"Eyes, look your last. Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O, you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death."

Ash leans in to give Misty a stage kiss, but I notice that he stumbles a little and accidentally kisses her on the side of her lips.

In shock, Ash pulls back quickly, eyes widening in shock.

"Keep going!" I mouth to Ash as he stares off at Misty disbelievingly.

"Come," Ash clears his throat as he takes out the bottle, "bitter conduct, come unsavory guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark!"

He tilts the 'poison' towards his mouth, "Here's to my love."

"O true apothecary," his voice is shaky once more, "thy drugs are quick."

"Thus," He leans in once more to stage kiss Misty, but this time, he manages to kiss her merely on the cheek. "with a kiss I die."

Misty 'wakes' a few moments after Ash collapses on stage.

"What's here?" she picks up the vial curiously. "A cup closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end."

Misty curses that Romeo has drank all the poison before leaning to stage kiss him.

That's Gary and I's cue. We make stomping noises and Gary calls out, "Lead, boy. Which way?"

"Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief. O, happy dagger, this is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die." Misty takes Ash's fake dagger from his belt and pretends to stab herself before keeling over on top of him.

Gary and I close the curtains as polite applause follows the end of their performance. A few boys and girls cheer loudly, not afraid of Mr. Fuwacchi.

Misty pulls herself off of Ash, but before she can say anything to him, he runs off. Pikachu bounds confusedly after his trainer.

I exchange a worried look with Gary. None of us could do anything. Gary and I were next, and we needed Misty around for the curtain and effects.

"I can do this," I whisper to myself in reassurance. I just knew I could.

I help Misty quickly move the funeral bed out and clamber onto the 'balcony'.

Gary gets into place, and Misty yanks onto the rope by herself. The curtain opens, and bright lights immediately fill my sight.

"He jests at scars that never felt a wound," Gary sighs as he works through the fake shrubbery he had just set up.

"But soft," Gary halts at the sight of me. "what light through yonder window breaks?"

Even though I protested it, a lone spotlight is on me and my inappropriate nightgown.

I pretend to be looking around me and gazing up at the stars as Gary goes through his speech, adding in my lines when necessary.

I 'discover' him listening to my love confession to him, and we get into this flirting match. I'd go further into detail about it, but it's slightly embarrassing for me. I was too caught up in it.

We're at the part where I say the iconic line "Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say 'goodnight' till it be morrow,", when Gary suddenly reaches up to grab my hand.

I instinctively lean down as he slowly lowers his head to my hand. His lips make contact with my hand briefly, before his green eyes look up at me.

I squeak out my line, and Misty takes pity on me by closing the curtain shortly after.

"What was that?!" I hiss to Gary, my cheeks flushing. I yank my hand out of his grasp as my inner self sarcastically 'squeals' _I'm never going to wash my hand! Never!_

Gary shrugs, "Adlibbing. You know, something _real_ actors do."

"Jerk-" I instinctively start to say my old nickname for him, but Misty joins us, saving me from embarrassing myself again.

"C'mon," she frantically motions us forward. "Curtain call!"

"What about Ash?" I ask just before Ash finally comes bounding over to us.

He's supposed to be joining hands with Misty, but he comes to my side instead. He avoids looking at Gary and Misty entirely.

Misty's face takes on a somewhat hurt look, but it could've just been my imagination in the semi-dark of the backstage area.

As we all hold hands and bow, my eyes catch a flash of light blue in the front row.

_Blue?_

My eyes locate the source. A familiar girl with pigtails and light blue hair claps and cheers enthusiastically.

I wait until we're offstage and out of costume before barreling over to the girl.

"Marina!" I call out happily as I practically tackle hug her. "What are you doing here!?"

Not that it wasn't a welcome surprise. I was almost afraid I'd be alone for the first part of summer. Maybe Marina learned about the change in summer plans from Dad? She did work as an intern at the lab.

"Ta-da!" Marina squeals. "I came to visit! I've never been to Pallet Town before, and you've always come to Sevii!"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demand, "I almost had a heart attack when I saw you with your _blue_ hair!"

"Then it wouldn't be a surprise!" Marina giggles as she twirls her newly-dyed hair, "And do you likey?"

"It's different," I answer honestly.

Marina sighs, "Blame Vaughn. He was so upset over his break up with Tiffany that instead of giving me light blue highlights, he gave me entirely _blue_ hair by accident. Poor darling. I felt bad for him, so I told him that it was fine. At least it'll call the judge's attention on me for the Prestige contest."

Vaughn was probably the most passionate and serious hair dresser I've ever met. Marina only trusted her raven hair to his care. For a while, I was worried that if something were to happen to him, Marina would let her hair grow to the length of Rapunzel.

"You're in the Prestige contest?!" I look at her in shock for a few moments before coming to my senses.

Of course, _Marina_ would enter a contest to show off the beauty of her pokémon!

Someone clears their throat politely from behind us. I turn around.

Misty smiles at Marina, "You must be Marina. Leaf's mentioned you several times."

Marina grins at me before looking back over to the red-head. "And you're Misty, the fourth Sensational Sister!"

Ash and Gary hang awkwardly behind Misty.

"Oooh!" Marina claps her hands happily when she sees them.

"You're," she points to Ash, "Asher Ketchup!"

"Wha-?" Ash blinks in confusion while Pikachu pop his head out from behind Ash at the word 'ketchup'.

"Ash Ketchum," I fake cough into my arm. "His name's Ash _Ketchum_."

"Right!" Marina cheerfully says. "Gotta catch 'em all!"

Marina turns to Gary, and frantically, I dash behind him and make a slashing motion across my neck. I didn't want Gary to know that I mentioned him frequently. Marina was a loyal friend, but she'd accidentally let things slip at times.

"Ah," Marina grins at him, "the infamous Gary Oak."

"Infamous?" Gary's head turns to look at me.

Luckily, I had dropped making motions already, or it'd have been ten times more awkward and embarrassing.

"Yup," Marina nods cheerfully. "you're the grandson of the great Professor Oak after all!"

I mentally sigh in relief at the save.

"It's so great to meet Leaf's best friend!" Misty gushes, grinning at Marina. "And your name's so pretty too!"

Ash only stares at his sneakers, avoiding looking at Misty. If I didn't know better, I'd say Misty threw herself into a conversation with Marina in order to not acknowledge Ash's weird behavior towards her.

"Yeah," Gary echoes emotionlessly. "just _great_ to meet Leaf's one and only true best friend."

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah...I still need to work on my chapter endings.<strong>

**Anyway, originally Marina had her blue hair, but then I decided that the hair color was just too unnatural...even though a majority of the characters have odd hair colors. I guess I've been kinda linking the manga versions to the characters...but just a little, so don't rely on that.**

**Every single detail I mention that have a bit of emphasis is crucial. It'll all come back later in the story. (Hint: It's mainly in Leaf's point of view). The whole library thing was pretty random, but it was inspired by an outing with my own friends. We weren't banned or anything from the library, but we were 'politely' asked to leave.**

**Also, I understand that I rushed things a bit this chapter and there was too much drama going on to really keep track of things. But I looked at my plans for this story and realized I was moving WAY too slow. Honestly, I'm basically in the exposition part. I don't even half of the main cast introduced yet. They'll hopefully be coming in next chapter, but for now, this story goes full speed ahead with action!**

**Gary and Leaf still have issues, but now they've verbalized it. Ash has also accidentally kissed Misty, and is now avoiding her. What's going to become of these four and what will happen now that Marina's here? Feel free to guess and speculate, because it'd totally make my day!**

**Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions!**


	7. The Calm Before The Storm

**Hey! I didn't exactly post this on my user page, so, if none of you knew, I was on a brief (okay not really) hiatus because my flashdrive holding this chapter broke. I had to re-write much of it, but to make up for the large amount of time I took in between, I'm giving you ANOTHER long chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to point out any mistakes I made, because I barely put this thing through editing. I wanted to give you guys this before it got to be the end of the year.**

**Anyway, HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING!**

**Thanks to _Cutiepiepo2_, _Spacebar_, and _StrawberriiSuzu_ for reviewing!**

**Warning: Really long chapter; Characters may be OOC; Bad sense of humor**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Is this statement really necessary?**

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

Somebody keeps staring at me, scrutinizing me with their gaze. I have no idea who it is, but I can just _feel_ the person's eyes on me.

It's probably a pervert.

Unable to fight the temptation to ignore the creeper gazing at me so intently, I briefly look over my shoulder. My own hazel eyes meet dark viridian green.

I shift my head back, facing forward.

_Yep_. Definitely a pervert.

I try my best to ignore the weird look he's giving me. He's probably focusing on cursing me or something. I used to do that to him as a child whenever he angered me.

Why do clocks always move so slowly in the summer time?! No, scratch that, they _always _do. A minute is freakin' sixty seconds, so why does it take so long for the tiny second hand to go around one circle?!

"Gary," the elderly Mrs. Dirithsuir suddenly says amidst her lecture, "Gary Oak."

"Yes?" the boy in question responds, straightening at his desk. Everyone in the classroom turns around to look at him.

"What color was Pallet Kantogata's white ponyta after crossing the Wayanuat River?" Mrs. Dirithsuir demands suddenly, pointing a finger at him.

A couple of students stifle a laugh or attempt to hide their smiles.

"White?" Gary scrunches his eyebrows in slight confusion, "But, Mrs. Dirithsuir…this is Algebra II class."

"Wrong!" Mrs. Dirithsuir yells loudly, "His ponyta was _brown_ from the mud, and Mr. Oak, I'd like to remind you that this is _my_ class… which means that I will ask you any question I please when I think you aren't paying attention."

The classroom falls into slight silence before the elderly teacher bursts into laughter herself, "Oh! I'm just messing with you! I know that pretty much all of you haven't been paying attention the _whole day."_

Students begin to murmur amongst themselves. Mrs. Dirithsuir is an odd, yet strangely lovable teacher. At least, _I _like her.

Mrs. Dirithsuir gestures to the board, where her neat handwriting is scrawled in notes that look like a madman's musings, "I even wrote english and science on the board that no one's bothered to correct!"

Hmm….I didn't even notice it, but Mrs. Dirithsuir had written '_The girl said that she wasn't felling two good.'_ and '_The newest pokémon type is rainbow'_.

"Rainbow?" Holly Eisenburgh from my old homeroom giggles.

"How colorful," Terrence Valliant deadpans. "It makes me 'fell good'."

Before Mrs. Dirithsuir can respond in any way, the bell rings as the minute hand finally moves to the twelve.

I almost jump up, half-startled and half-excited. But yours truly forgot to pack up her things.

So while I scramble to jam my calculator and textbooks (I didn't even need it…why did I take it out?) back into my backpack, everyone else in the class practically shoves their way out of the classroom. I'm still trying to zip up my bag when Mrs. Dirithsuir speaks again.

"Gary Oak," Mrs. Dirithsuir says, just before Gary makes his way out the doorway.

"Yes?" Gary raises an eyebrow as he pauses and leans on the wooden lintel.

"A few words if you please, Mr. Oak," Mrs. Dirithsuir gracefully plops herself down into her chair and neatly folds her hands on the desk.

My ears burn as I feel the whole awkwardness of the situation. C'mon, zipper! Just _go up_!

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Gary asks.

Great Mew! The cloth of my backpack's stuck in the zipper!

"You're not in trouble," Mrs. Dirithsuir starts.

Uh oh. That's usually where the teacher starts to "gently" chide you for something.

This. Is. So. Awkward.

"…but I'd appreciate it in the future if you pay attention in class and not stare so much at Miss Green," Mrs. Dirithsuir finishes.

Why is she picking on Gary, though? She said it herself, it wasn't like anyone else in the class was paying attention either. Maybe she expected more out of Gary?

Forget the stupid zipper that refuses to perform its sole function. As quietly as I can, I attempt to leave without making things even more awkward.

Life hates me, however, and I clumsily knock over a chair with my backpack.

"Sorry," I mutter, red-faced as I speedily pick up the chair and practically zip out the door.

The way Mrs. Dirithsuir made it sound, it seemed like she thought Gary liked me or something.

_'What if he did?'_ My inner self asks me, for once lacking the sarcasm.

"Don't be stupid," I mutter to myself as my fingers turn the dial on my locker.

My locker is bare from any decorations. Though, to be honest, it was pretty much the same before I emptied it out for the summer too. I had put up pictures of me and Marina at Sevii Island, as well as pictures with me, Mom, and Dad…but I didn't have any pictures of me with any of my (former) Pallet Town friends. Those precious photos remain in my room: on my nightstand, in photo albums, and on my walls.

The hallway is still bustling with activity despite the school year being over. Students still clean out their lockers and exchange yearbooks, and the PTSA's committee hangs decorations for the Prestige Contest.

Damien Cross passes through the hallway, stopping by my locker. At first, I pay no attention to this, thinking that he is only waiting for someone to pass by and make room for him to go through the hallway.

Damien is one of the popular boys. Granted, there's a whole group of boys extremely popular (Gary Oak, Ash Ketchum, Seth Sharperson, etc.), but there's something about Damien Cross that always demands respect and admiration. To be honest, I'm surprised he didn't run for Student Council. He'd be good at that sort of thing and he wouldn't have to do anything to get the respect of the student body.

He clears his throat, gathering my attention away from my locker.

I close my locker door gently, turning to him in slight surprise.

He and I were chemistry partners last semester, and he and I were always able to work together perfectly fine.

"Yes?" I raise my eyebrow, trying to not look into his hypnotizing gold eyes.

"Want to trade year books?" He holds up his own questioningly, sending me a small smile all the while. He runs a hand through his dark hair, pushing some of his hair from in front of his eyes.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention? He has an accent that's _to die for_. He says one word, and everyone listening will be clinging to that one word in his accent.

"Sure," I shrug nonchalantly as I reach for my year book in my shoulder bag, but on the inside, I'm smiling with complete happiness at getting another signature in my year book.

But then I'm embarrassed. I only have six or seven signatures, and most of that is from my teachers.

_How. Lame._

As I scratch out the standard "I had a lot of fun with you this year in the classes we shared. Have a great summer!" message, I notice a green sticky note stuck on the top of the signature page.

"_I need your help, Leaf. It's about Della. Please?_

_-Damien"_

Well, leave it to Damien to be straight to the point. But I suppose that's the only way one can be in matters with Della Evengale. Fierce and rebellious, Della's certainly a handful. She never keeps her sharp tongue in check and doesn't hesitate to express her feelings on a matter.

Out of my peripheral vision, I see Della standing on her tiptoes as she staples her latest propaganda posters- concerning the _devolution_ of pokémon from free beings to "pets" forced to battle and participate in contests- to the bulletin board. She glances behind her shoulder at us, but then quickly goes back to her task.

An idea pops into my head. One that could possibly work…

…or fall short and explode back in my face.

Before I can change my mind, on the green sticky note, I write:

"_Ask me out on a 'date' with a grand gesture. In reality, it's for us hanging out and discussing your Della issue._

_-Leaf"_

'_Don't do it!'_ my inner self screams. _'Don't do something so stupid!'_

I don't even know if he's having a romantic problem with her. But if it is, I hope the whole jealousy thing works.

Damien's golden eyes skim over my words once he receives his year book back. With an almost imperceptible nod, Damien gives me affirmation.

"So, Leaf," Damien smiles at me while he subtly side-glances at Della, "what are you going to be up to over the summer?"

"I'll be here," I shrug, answering nonchalantly, "I'm not going to Sevii until later in the summer."

"Well then," Damien shifts his attention solely to me, "do you mind checking your calendar for a date?"

"Me?" I say, putting a hand to my chest in surprise. "Well… it _would_ be something new…"

Della, narrowing her eyes, puts down her stapler and turns to look at us. I can tell she's way too curious to give up eavesdropping like she had been attempting to earlier.

He shoots me a lopsided-grin, "Don't tell me Little Miss Leaf has never gone out on a date before?"

"Because I haven't," I giggle, sending him a flirty wink (or at least, what was intended to be. It probably looked like my eye blinking malfunctioned), "believe it or not, you're the first to ask."

"Your first, huh?" Damien asks, standing in silence after a few moments. Then he bends down on one knee in a grand gesture. "Would you do me the honor of letting me be your first date, Leaf Green?"

This attracts pretty much everyone else's attention in the hallway. Which would include Della, one or two other people, and…Gary…

_Somebody shoot me in the head and put me out of my misery._

"Damien," I giggle again, pretending to be extremely flattered to hide what I really feel right now. Embarrassed that Gary's seeing this. Oh yeah, and utterly _screwed_.

"Get up," I put my hands to my cheeks in a maidenly manner of blushing, "People are going to think you're proposing or something."

"You deserve _a grand gesture,_" Damien says, smirking, but he gets off of his one knee anyway.

His grand gesture has its intended effect, Della angrily crumples the purple sheet in her hand, and for a few minutes, I'm afraid she's going to try to kill me with the stapler.

Good for Damien. Glad to know that my death would at least bring him to Della. And Gary will get to fulfill his life-long dream of seeing me brutally murdered by a stapler.

"Well," I blink coyly at him, as I tilt my head to consider. "I suppose so, Mr. Cross. After all, there's no one I could possibly like more."

"I thank you kindly for the compliment, Miss Green," Damien bows in a gentlemanly manner to keep up the flirty banter, before locking eyes with me. "We'll work out the details later?"

"Yes, of course," I say softly, putting a hand over my mouth to make it look like I'm secretly hiding a giddy smile. In actuality, it's an _oh-my-Arceus-I'm-screwed _smile.

By this point, Della leaves, fists clenched at her sides while she tries her best to not look slightly peeved by the latest developments.

From what Damien hinted during our chemistry labs, Della tried to make their relationship strictly platonic. I felt a little bad for doing the jealousy thing, but obviously Della doesn't hold "strictly platonic" feelings for Damien either.

Damien bids me farewell, giving me a soulfully grateful look with his eyes.

_Good_. He _better_ be grateful for the things I'm doing for him.

_3…_

_2…_

_1…_

"What were you getting at by telling Cross he'd be your first date?!" Gary questions me, dark viridian eyes narrowing.

"Because he _is_," I answer, not bothering to look at him. I could keep my cool better if I didn't look at him.

'_Thanks to you_' my inner self says, expressing what I could only wish I had the courage to say out loud.

But I'm too afraid of inadvertently offending Gary or inciting his anger. I don't want him to hate me any more than he already does.

"What about your boyfriend in Sevii?" Gary persists, "You're willing to cheat on him for a _Pallet Town_ guy?"

"I don't have a _boyfriend_," I say coolly. "I don't even have friends who are _male_."

Once again, thanks to _this_ guy.

Gary chases out pretty much every male figure in my life. He probably wants me to be that lady living all by herself with the exception of her fifteen hundred _puruglies _(those ugly things I saw in a documentary last night on Sinnoh pokémon). Then he'll send his hell-fire children to ding-dong ditch my door all of the time.

I once had a good childhood friend that I couldn't help but feel close to. But Gary chased him away, being mean to him and constantly entreating me to not hang around him anymore.

Like an idiot, I chose Gary. I guess it was only karma that Gary ditched me.

The foreign tone in Gary reminds me of the jealousy that Gary displayed back then…

"_Gary, give it back!" my tiny arms flail in the air as I desperately jump to reach my round red ball that he now holds in his hands._

"_No," Gary says petulantly, holding it higher above his head. He is taller than me, towering over me like, well, pardon the pun, but like an _Oak.

"_You're being mean and stupid!" I tell him, putting my hands on my hips. "You're being a-a…boy!"_

"_Glad you know my gender," Gary says snidely before switching the subject. "But you won't get your ball back until you agree to stop hanging out with…"_

_Gary swallows, as if even thinking of his name puts a bad taste in his mouth._

"_He's nice!" I stubbornly put my hands on my hips, "He's waaaay nicer than you! He actually plays house with me and stuff!"_

"_I can play house with you," Gary grits his teeth._

"_But you won't!" I point out. "You always tell me that it's stupid and 'juvenile'!"_

"_You don't even know what that word means," Gary says in amusement, smirking at me._

"_See? You're always so mean to me!" I yell, trying to steer away from the fact that Gary was right. I suddenly jump up again, trying to reach my ball. "Now gimme!"_

_Gary, though startled, backs away and continues to dangle the red ball just out of my reach, "Nope. Not until you promise~." _

_My lips begin to wobble, and I plop myself down on the ground despondently._

"_Then I'm never going to play with my ball ever again," I whisper sadly._

"_Just promise you'll never hang out with that jerk again," Gary snaps, lowering the ball to his side as he bends down to look at me. He gives me a look that says, 'how hard can this be?'_

"_He plays house with me! He's so nice, he's even the daddy!"_

_Gary looks jealous at this. Hehe, this is going to be way too much fun._

"_I'll be the daddy," Gary says, "I'll play house with you whenever you want."_

"…_promise?" I look up at him hopefully through teary eyes. _

"_Promise," Gary responds firmly, without hesitation._

"_Okay!" I suddenly and gleefully jump up and snatch my shiny red ball from his hands. "Now let's go play!"_

"_Wha-?" Gary blinks in shock before he slowly realizes what I've tricked him in to._

_His angry voice follows me as I dash away, though I know he's not truly mad in the slightest._

"_Pesky girl!"_

"Leaf?" fingers snap literally two centimeters away from my face. "Leaf?!"

I blink rapidly, returning back from my memory. I must've dazed out.

"Sorry, you were saying?" I mutter, my ears heating up in embarrassment. Even though it had been Gary I was speaking to, I still felt rude.

Gary looks at me carefully, examining me.

"I wasn't saying anything," Gary says after a pause. "But it seemed like you were about to say something before you zoned out."

Had I been about to say something else? I didn't think I was.

But Gary's giving me that same look he gave me at _Chilly Cherubi_ the other day, right before I had said something wrong and set him off. And for some reason, I want him to keep looking at me like that. To keep looking at me as a person of interest, rather than the person who he's held in disdain for the past seven years.

I open my mouth to speak before clamping it shut. What if I said something wrong again?

"…Nothing," I say quietly, "I wasn't going to say anything."

_The last real male friend I had was you. Even if I managed to make a new one….he wouldn't compare to you._

Gary looks at me in disbelief. He's about to push more for what I meant to say (curse, his curiosity!), but a frantic Ash interrupts.

"Leaf!" Ash sounds relieved at finding me. He rests his hand on my shoulder, "I've been looking all over for you."

"Hello, Ashy Boy," Gary says, familiar smirk on his face but a surprisingly flat tone towards his best friend.

"Gary," Ash nods at him before turning his attention back to me. "Leaf, I need to talk to you."

I'm not the only one surprised by Ash's rather lukewarm attitude towards Gary.

Gary's face forms one of shock before he drops it. He leaves, walking down the hallway with his hands jammed into the front pockets of his jeans.

I almost want to walk after him and redo my last conversation with him.

I turn to Ash, tightly holding to my chest the books I had yet to tuck into my shoulder bag. Resisting the urge to watch Gary, I sigh, "Okay, Asher, what's up?"

"It's about Misty," Ash says immediately, "and that...that _thing_ that happened last Monday."

_Way to not beat around the bush, Ash._

"What about it?" I ask, a little confused. So he slipped a little and kissed the corner of her lips. Not a real kiss, right?

Besides, he did talk to her about it afterwards, right?

Oh, who am I kidding? This is _Ash Ketchum_, we're talking about here.

"What am I supposed to do about it?!" Ash hisses, putting his hand up around his mouth as if telling a secret.

I suppose he is, but he seriously needs to realize that his "whispering" tone is probably louder than his normal tone.

"Did you talk to her about it?" I shift my weight from my left foot to my right.

"No," Ash says, both sullenly and quietly.

"You should," I suggest as I turn to my side to tuck my books into my bag. "These kinds of things shouldn't be left unsaid."

"But what would I say to her?" Ash asks, looking frustrated, "It's easier to pretend that it never happened."

When Ash says that, I realize that Ash has never really changed. He always met any verbal or physical challenge head-on, but when it came to emotional matters…

…he always pretended they weren't there.

When Gary began to hate me, rather than face the difficulty of two friends not talking to one another, Ash pretended that _our_ friendship never happened.

As much as I want to yell at Ash for this upon realization, I can't. Because he's still here, talking to me. And…to be honest, it was easier for me to pretend that my friendship with Gary and Ash never happened rather than confront them. I was a coward too. And, judging by my last conversation with Gary, still _am_.

"It's not easier," I swallow, my throat aching. "Trust me."

"I….can't," Ash bows his head, "I can't ruin my friendship with her."

"Wait…so you're afraid to talk to Misty because you don't want it to ruin your friendship?" I ask him incredulously, "I hate to break it to you, Asher, but you avoiding _her_ is ruining your friendship too."

In my words is also the question over whether my thoughts are true. That Ash may have some semblance of more than platonic feelings for Misty.

"I…know," Ash bites his lips, "but I don't want to change our friendship."

"Okay," I say sarcastically, putting my hand to my hips, "so you'll _never_ talk to Misty again because of that kiss you shared."

"I told you," Ash insists, "It was nothing."

"Was it?" I look into Ash's brown eyes in all seriousness.

"Yes," Ash replies firmly.

"Okay," I sigh, giving up. "Whatever you say, Asher."

"Thanks, Leafy," Ash hugs me suddenly, "Thanks for understanding."

As he walks away, clearly in a better mood, I can't help but wonder why Ash bothered to talk to me about it. Was it just so he could reiterate to himself that what happened Monday was nothing?

* * *

><p><strong>Misty<strong>

I sigh despondently once more, causing Pikachu to look up at me worriedly.

His ears twitch as the cute mouse pokémon gives me what totally looks like sympathy, "Pi-ka?"

"I'm fine, Pikachu," I attempt to smile, just for him. "But thanks for your concern."

Ash apparently left him behind or something, because Pikachu just came bounding straight up to me right after school ended. Speaking of his trainer, he is _still_ avoiding me.

Pikachu, seeing through my pitiful attempt to seem happy, bounds up my arm and around my neck to nuzzle my cheek affectionately, "Pika."

My hand reaches up to stroke his head.

"Thank you, Pikachu," I say softly.

"Hey, Misty!" Leaf's friend, Marina, cheerfully makes her way over to me.

I wish I could be that happy.

"Have you seen Leaf?" she asks as she plops herself down across from me.

"No," I say immediately. I want to forget how Ash's been spending more and more time with her.

Marina gives a slightly exasperated sigh as she drums her fingers on the table, "That girl…she was supposed to bring me to her pool after school let out."

Leaf didn't invite me to go with her. But I think I probably know why.

"So, is there anything else you're going to do with Leaf other than going to her pool?" I ask as I rest my head against my hand.

"Who's going to the pool later?" Gary cuts in as he joins us by sitting next to me. He casts a glance to Marina before looking away from her, appearing to be peeved she's here.

"Leaf and I are," Marina claps her hands together excitedly. "You should join us!"

"Maybe," Gary says flatly, shooting me a side glance.

"I'll go," I say firmly. I want to talk to Leaf and clear a few things up with her.

* * *

><p>And so, all five of us find ourselves hanging out at the small neighborhood pool near Ash, Gary, and Leaf's house.<p>

I sport my usual navy blue one-piece, while Marina and Leaf wear a yellow tankini and green one-piece respectively.

"Haven't been here in a while," Gary casts a curious look around the small pool as he steps out from the men's locker room and onto the pool deck.

"It looks smaller," Ash says as he looks around too. He has a wailord floatie tucked in his arm and still wears that same red swimming trunks.

"Probably because you haven't been here in a while, Asher," Leaf laughs, her hazel eyes smiling at him.

_She likes him. She likes HIM._

"Oh, hey!" Marina suddenly claps her hands together, "You're matching!"

Leaf and Ash both give her confused looks, while Gary merely rolls his eyes. Clearly Gary doesn't like Leaf _or_ her friend Marina.

"You and Gary, silly," Marina giggles to Leaf, pointing to Gary's own dark green swim shorts.

"So we are," Leaf shoots Marina a somewhat pained look, causing the bluenette to giggle some more.

Gary merely examines the swim records board on the wall beside him, avoiding looking at the two girls.

Marina stretches her arms, "Hey, Leaf, I'm up for a race. How about you?"

"Nah," Leaf declines quietly, instead depositing her stuff in a nearby pool chair. "I think I'll just dip my feet in the pool instead."

I speak up, "I'm up for a few laps in the pool if you're up for it, Marina."

"Awesome!" Marina claps her hands together. "I should warn you, as a Sevii native, I practically grew up in the water!"

"Well," I grin, feeling adrenaline pump through my veins, "_I'm_ from Cerulean, so I was pretty much _born_ in the water."

"I can be the starter," Leaf offers as she pulls off her fedora and plops it onto the chair too. She shakes her hair out, sending her chestnut locks flying a little.

I can't help but stare at Leaf when she does that. I've never seen her without her hat, and she looks…_really pretty_.

…It's _always_ the pretty ones that like him.

"Cannonball!" Ash yells loudly, cutting into the silence as the sound of his feet against the pool pavement lead into his big splash into the pool.

Out of my peripheral vision, I see Gary joltingly look away from Leaf too. Note to self: badger Gary later about it.

"Asher!" Leaf yelps as she jumps away from the pool edge to avoid the splash.

"Water's great!" Ash laughs as he sends some pool water at Leaf once he surfaces.

Leaf hides behind the wailord floatie Ash left on the pool deck, shielding herself from the water.

"You'll pay for that!" Leaf yelps, but she is smiling so widely that it looked like her smile would just burst from her face.

"I guess I'll be the starter judge now," Gary steps, looking rather annoyed at Ash and Leaf's behavior at the pool.

His look urges me to ignore them too. So _what_ if they were a little too cozy? I could…ignore that, right?

As Marina and I line up at the starter block, I can't help but wish I was racing Leaf instead. In the pool, I would win.

* * *

><p>Marina, as it turns out, is a pretty fast and graceful swimmer. In the end, we tied, no matter how many rematches either of us declared. She'd win a race, I'd win a race. It went back and forth. Gary keeps track of it all, citing that it would help him with his memory (in reality, I think he was bored since Ash was preoccupied with Leaf).<p>

The sun is still burning brightly half an hour later when we go back to the pool chairs.

"That was so much fun!" Marina giggles as she lays back on her the pink beach towel she laid over her chair.

"Yeah," I agree, still feeling calmer from the nice dip in the pool.

"I'll get you back, Asher," Leaf laughs, nudging Ash they approach the three of us.

"What's your favorite stroke?" I try to continue the conversation with Marina while effectively ignoring the newcomers. "Mine's breaststroke."

Gary, who had been sitting rather idlely in another nearby chair, suddenly straightens and makes his way right next to a still dripping wet Ash.

"What's your favorite stroke?" Gary mimics me in a higher pitch while his arm rests across Ash's shoulder. He strokes Ash's chest, "Mine's _breast stroke_."

Ash, whose facial emotions ranged from confusion to _WTF_ to comprehension, begins to laugh loudly.

Leaf attempts to stifle her own amusement by hiding the lower portion of her face behind her hand. However, she gives in and giggles at a volume louder than usual.

Gary, who made the awful _perverted_ joke, watches all of our reactions smugly, though he seems to be taking the most pleasure out of usually quiet and reserved Leaf's.

Marina, in stark contrast to us all, is completely confused.

"What?" Marina asks through slightly narrowed eyes as she looks around at all of us, "I don't get it."

"It's okay, Mari," Leaf waves her off reassuringly, "You don't have to get it."

"Leaf," Gary says completely out of the blue, surprising both me and her.

Leaf looks at Gary expectantly, blinking away her shock.

He grins suddenly, "Why don't you explain to your friend, since _you_ came up with it?"

Leaf's face turns slightly pink, "Um…"

"Why don't you tell her _how _and _why_ you made up such a juvenile joke?" Gary drawls, looking at her expectantly.

It doesn't take me long to make the connection. Gary's hoping to embarrass Leaf in front of Marina by showing Marina Leaf's "Pallet Town-ness"…which in itself is ridiculous since he's basically implying that Pallet Town is less sophisticated than Sevii Islands (at least to Leaf and Marina).

Leaf plays with her fingers, looking down in embarrassment as her chestnut hair falls over her shoulders and hides her face.

"Gary," Ash says seriously, amusement gone when he realizes the tension underneath the seemingly innocent question.

"No," Leaf says quietly, not looking up. Though whether she's saying this to Ash or Gary is ambiguous.

"Leaf," Marina says kindly, giving her a sympathetic look, "You don't have to-"

"No," Leaf says a little bit louder, finally looking up, "I _want_ to."

Taking a breath first to steel herself, Leaf looks determinedly at Gary, "I was _proud_ of myself when I made it at the age of _eight_. I didn't really think about its meaning, just freaking a certain person out like I normally did. And to be honest, I'm _still_ proud."

Gary, rather than backing down, merely raises an eyebrow at her.

"Well," I say awkwardly into the silence, "Who's up for ice cream from the snack bar?"

Marina and Ash are both glad for the topic change, and Ash, being himself, races off towards the snack bar with Marina dragging along Leaf in tow. Leaf looks over her shoulder at us, biting her lip before turning forward once more and walking with Marina.

"Are you happy now?" I sarcastically ask Gary as we begin to walk too.

Gary shrugs, his viridian eyes still locked onto Leaf's retreating figure. He's examining her like a person would when they get new data. Was that all some test or something? I had no idea if Leaf passed or not, and Gary certainly gives no indication with his reaction. I almost think that Leaf totally failed Gary's mini-test.

But out of my peripheral vision, I see Gary _smile_.

* * *

><p>After we eat our ice cream from the snack bar, Marina, Leaf, and I all lounge about on the beach chairs, talking about…well, pretty much <em>anything<em>. It felt really nice, to be honest.

Gary and Ash fooled around in the water, though you could probably guess who did most of the fooling around.

"So, Leaf," Marina nudges Leaf, who had been staring at the two boys. "How's it going with that promise you gave me? See anything you like?"

Leaf flushes at being caught, "Geez, Mari!"

"So," I cut in, not wanting to hear about Leaf and Ash, lest my jealousy get the best of me. I _really_ liked Marina and Leaf, and I'd prefer not to let a guy (Ash) get in between. "Marina, do you have a boyfriend back home?"

Leaf rolls her eyes at my question, clearly not enjoying what Marina's about to say.

"Yes!" Marina squeals, "His name's Jimmy, and he's _soooooo_ charming!"

"Charming?" Leaf snorts, "Funny, because last summer at the arcade, that would've been the last word on my mind."

"Leaf," Marina pushes her playfully, "You're always so cynical!"

"You both gave me the awkward married couple vibe," Leaf grins, egging Marina on.

"Leeaaaaaaffff!" Marina launches herself at Leaf, tickling her.

"Misty, help!" Leaf giggles, as she tries her best to turn away from Marina.

I move forward to interfere.

"Misty, _don't_," Marina shoots me a look.

I shrug at Leaf in a '_what can you do?'_ way.

Leaf and Marina's loudness attracts the attention of several other pool-goers, including Ash and Gary, who stop amidst a swimming race to look at us.

"Ooooh," Marina smiles a little too brightly at Leaf, "just for that comment, I think I'll have a conversation with a certain _someone_ about a certain _something_."

Leaf's face becomes one of panic, "You better not, Mari!"

"Too late!" Marina sing-songs as she jumps off of Leaf and skips over to where the boys are.

Leaf attempts to run after her, but I grab her wrist.

"If you run after her, you'll only make it look weirder," I tell her.

Leaf nods her head and sits back down, looking slightly put out.

To my surprise, rather than talk to Ash, Marina is chatting with…_Gary_.

* * *

><p><strong>Gary<strong>

Even when you're underwater, you can still hear sounds. Like high-pitched squeals and giggles.

I ignore it at first, but soon it becomes too much for me to handle. My head breaks the surface to see what was going on, and I see that Ashy-Boy gave up on racing too.

Marina, Leaf's blue-haired friend from Sevii, is tickling Leaf. So much for sophisticated Sevii Islanders.

Eventually, Marina gets off of her, causing Leaf to panic and try to run after her. Misty pulls Leaf back, and the pesky girl sits down with a small frown on her face.

I'm too busy trying to understand _what_ just happened when Marina plops herself right on the edge of the pool, dipping her feet in the water.

"Yoo-hoo," Marina calls, waving a hand at us while wiggling her fingers, "Gary!"

Ashy-Boy gives me a weird look, to which I shrug and head over to see what Leaf's ditzy friend could possibly want.

"Yes?" I raise an eyebrow at her, resisting the urge to snap at her. "What do you want?"

She looks slightly crestfallen at my attitude before instantly perking up again.

_Reminds me of someone_…

"I thought we'd just exchange stories we have on one of our common points," Marina says cheerily.

"Research?" My eyebrows furrow in confusion. Is that what she wanted to talk about?

It's surprising, but she's actually a research lab aide to Professor Green, Leaf's father.

"No," she giggles, "about _Leaf_, silly."

I feel my blood turn cold at the subject.

"We have nothing to discuss," I abruptly turn away from her, to her shock.

No, I didn't want to talk about Leaf with the person most responsible for changing her.

It turns out that Leaf had been watching us, because, before we leave, the pool, Leaf corners me by the vending machines.

"Look, Gary," she says through clenched teeth. Her fists are clenched at her side too. "I know you don't like me."

"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow at her, half-surprised by her bluntness. Leaf had always been a blunt person, but I always thought that had changed after second grade.

"But whatever problem you have with me," Leaf continues, ignoring my words, "you shouldn't take out on my friend either."

I look at her with the same facial expression as I punch the button for coke.

"It's not fair to her," she finishes, looking at me with slightly hopeful eyes that I'll be compliant.

"And what if it's not fair for me to have to deal with her?" I shoot back as I retrieve my drink.

"You didn't even give her a chance!" Leaf protests, her volume rising.

"I gave her the same chance you gave me," I brush her off. Wanting to leave the conversation at that, I push past her and begin to walk away.

"What are you talking about?!" Leaf demands, yelling after me. Except she sounds genuinely confused.

I stop but don't turn around, "When you came back, who did you hang out with?"

"No one," Leaf says, her voice hoarse. "I didn't hang out wi-"

Her voice catches, and she swallows, "…with anyone."

"That's what I thought," I say, cracking open the can before walking away.

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

I am beyond confusion at this point. I had hoped to talk some sense into Gary, and I ended up walking away with my whole point of view shattered.

So many '_what if's'_ are running through my mind.

What _if_ this whole problem between Gary and me is just a whole big misunderstanding?

What _if_ Gary missed me over the eight years like I miss him?

What _if_ Gary and I were to make up and mend our friendship?

…but that's the thing. They're all _'what if's'_.

It doesn't help that five minutes after my "conversation" with Gary, I saw him chatting casually with Marina like they were old friends.

I'll be honest, I felt jealousy when I saw them talking. If Gary could get over his illogical disdain for Marina, _why_ couldn't he get over his dislike for me? I envy Marina for topping me in being able to actually _talk_ to Gary.

"Leaf, honey," Mom asks me in concern as I spear my salad disinterestedly, "are you okay?"

Marina shoots me a look of concern as well.

Apparently, Mom had been expecting _Marina_ over; because she already had the guest room prepped up and wasn't surprised in the least to see Marina.

"I'm fine," I sigh as I push my salad around. "I'm just not really hungry."

"But you always at least make it past the salad," Mom points out, gesturing to her and Marina's pork chops.

"I'm just not hungry," I say quietly.

Mom, worried about me, allows me to leave the table. I silently walk up the stairs to my room and throw myself onto my bed.

Eevee, who had been napping on my bed, jumps at the sudden weight change.

"Sorry, Eve," I murmur, stroking her head in an apologetic way.

A few minutes later, I hear light steps coming up the stairs, and a knock sounds lightly on my door.

"Come in," I call half-heartedly, knowing it's Marina. Mom would _never_ knock.

"Hey," Marina says quietly as she sits down on the bed next to me. The bed squeaks again, and Eevee jumps away, slightly startled by the sound.

"So," I give her a small smile as I pull myself up to rest on my elbow, "what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Gary," Marina says bluntly.

My heart stops at the mere mention of him before starting back up.

With narrowed eyes, I shake my head, "Topic change, please."

"You can't avoid it forever," Marina tells me.

"I can try," I grab my pillow and tuck it under my neck as I hold onto it tightly. I refuse to look at Marina because I _know_ she'll get me to cave.

"You know," Marina says after a long pause, "for someone who you claim hates you, Gary seems to be awfully fond of _talking_ about _you_."

"What?!" I immediately straighten, sitting upright on my bed. "What do you mean?"

Marina rolls her eyes in a playfully exasperated manner, "I _mean_, silly, that he talks about you. A _lot_."

'_Probably bad things,'_ my inner self scoffs.

"Probably bad things," I echo her as I begin to settle back onto my bed in a calmer manner. I let the thought settle into my mind too.

"Nope," Marina shakes her head, "Actually, they were all flattering towards you. I'll admit that some stories-"

"Stories?" I raise an eyebrow. "He told you _stories_ about me?"

"Don't worry," Marina giggles, waving me off, "They weren't _that_ bad."

"_That_ bad?!" I bolt upwards, but Marina pushes me back down.

Marina continues, shooting me a firm look, "He told me stories about you in your childhood. While some weren't exactly flattering, they weren't unflattering either. In fact, I think you would've been touched by how much detail he had put into the stories."

"And what exactly brought on the stroll down memory lane for Gary?" I ask sarcastically. But my heart flutters at the thought that Gary still remembered just as vividly as I did.

"I asked him," Marina shrugs nonchalantly.

"_Why?_" my mouth falls open in shock as I stare at my best friend incredulously.

"It was common point between the two of us!" Marina says defensively, "That's how you talk to people: you find things you have in common!"

"You had being research aides as a common point!" I point out.

"Oh yeah," Marina says a little sheepishly. "Well, that conversation wouldn't have lasted long anyway."

Gary would've made that conversation last until eternity if he wanted to, knowing him.

I open my mouth to tell her so when Marina shoots me a look that tells me to shut up. I close my mouth reluctantly.

"_Anyway_," Marina continues brightly, "there was also this little smile that he had the whole time. It was _soooo_ cute!"

"Gary?" I snort, "cute?"

Those two were _not_ compatible in my mind.

'_Gary is HOT ,though' _my inner self sniggers at me.

Marina punches me playfully, "Oh, you know you were thinking the same thing too. You should totally ask him out!"

"Marina," I say firmly, "I am _not_ going to ask him out."

"You're right," Marina says after a moment, "_He_ should ask _you_ out!"

"Marina," I groan, burying my face under my pillow.

But the fact that Gary _did_ listen to me and gave Marina a chance lightened my heart. Maybe someday he'd give me a chance again, and we could go back to how things were.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, first thing's first: ENDINGS STILL SUCK. If anyone could give me better suggestions (kindly) through PM, I'd appreciate it. If you're at the end of he chapter and reading this, hopefully you aren't a flamer. So no flaming, people.<strong>

**Anyway, I tried to bring Marina in more, but one of my problems with writing is handling multiple characters without making it seem like one character hardly was interacting with the others. I know I made Ash seem very minor in this chapter, but I guess that's because he's getting his stuff together and...I still have no idea how to properly portray him...**

**Gary/Leaf's perverted joke? My brother and his friends were telling me this one day at the pool, and I found it pretty funny/ something Gary would totally do.**

**While tension between Misty and Ash seems to be growing, the conflict between Gary and Leaf appear to be dying down. Or is this the calm before the storm?**

**Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions!**


	8. Comfort and Getting Closer

**Hey, guys, I'm not dead! (Okay, that came out weird...but you guys should realize I'm a weird person) In one review, I think a user told me I take a long time to update, so she thought I was dead. (Perfectly understandable by the way. I take almost a year to update -_-') **

**ANYWAY, I hope you guys enjoy this filler chapter of sorts, which also answers some questions, but mostly leaves more. (Hehehe) It's pretty short in comparison to the length of my others, but this'll motivate me to update on a more regular basis for you guys (7,000 words actually does take awhile...my procrastination and writer's block do not help at all). I wrote Leaf's POV before today, but I pretty much wrote everything else today just to get this chapter out of the way and introduce a character that's been bugging me for awhile. **

**I may or may not be distracted because of more ORS (or whatever you want to call it. I just ship it) story ideas, so you guys may or may not be expecting an into for that too.**

**Thanks to** _Spacebar_, _Cutiepiepo2,_ _SadistHaru_**, and **_Viridian Cordelia De Green_** for reviewing the last chapter!**

**Warning: Characters and interactions may seem OOC. Endings may be choppy, and overall chapter content may be bland.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, or Serena would've been Leaf instead and Gary would be traveling with Ash to just give me the Pallet Town Trio. Or something.**

* * *

><p><em>My feet sounds loudly against the gravel, almost rivaling the drumming noise my heart makes. All around, the sky is gray and filled with angry storm clouds and the winds blow harshly against me, buffeting me. <em>

_I skid to a stop, causing a few pebbles to go flying. _

"_Eevee!" I cup my hands over my mouth, shouting as loud as I could over the driving force of the wind. Desperation taints my voice as I look for the eevee I had found and rescued a few days ago. _

"_Eevee!" I repeat, and I'm almost afraid my voice will eventually grow hoarse and give out. My eyes survey the water below me, below the cliff edge I stand less than ten feet away from._

_The sea angrily churls and foams, almost like it's a rabid pokémon itself. Usually the water was calm and a beautiful blue-ish green combo almost like aquamarine. But today, amidst probably the biggest and most odd storm to ever hit Kanto- scratch that- the whole world, the ocean is deep, dark blue almost bordering black. Who knows what lurks beneath its depths?_

_I shudder. It's an awfully long way down. Attempting to distract myself from the not-so-pleasant thought, I began searching for Eevee more fervently._

"_Eevee!" I raise my voice even louder, willing it to be heard. _

_She acted strange earlier. But then again, so did the rest of the pokémon. The Pokémon Center and many news reporters and officials announced that something about the storm was oddly affecting all pokémon and that to avoid this situation, we should recall all our pokémon back into their pokéball._

_Just then, a sudden shriek fills the air, almost piercing my eardrums with its high pitch. I instinctively fold into myself, covering my ears from that terrible sound. I'm too distracted with piecing back my thoughts and ignoring that mind muddling sound that I don't run._

* * *

><p>I wake up suddenly with a jolt, gasping for breath as I clutch my bed sheets like it's my lifeline. I try to steady my breath by making them deeper and longer, but even just thinking about my nightmare causes me to hyperventilate.<p>

Before I can even really notice it, tears begin to drip onto my sheets, plopping down silently but quickly as I pull my knees up to my chest and rest my forehead against my knees.

To be honest, my nightmares had been taking a bit of a backseat to the small drama going on my life. I still had them, but not as frequent as its been lately, and _never_ this vivid.

I shudder, glad I woke up before the nightmare could complete itself.

When I swing my legs over the side of my bed and cautiously put my toe to the cold wooden floor, I almost hiss in pain. My legs are like jelly, which at the same time, brings a sudden ache to my body that races from up my leg.

I clench my teeth, stubbornly pushing my weight onto my legs. Once I stand, the floor practically rushes toward me to greet me as the world around me spins. I quickly grab onto my nightstand to support myself and wait until the dizzying fades before walking. At first, I'm stumbling and staggering across the cold floor, but, by the time, my fingers wind around the cool brass door handle, the pain goes away.

My bedroom door creaks slightly as I pull it open a little to glimpse into the darkened hallway. The guest room Marina's in is just at the other end of the hall. I could walk up to there and knock, right?

_Yeah, and wake her up at some random hour in the night?_ My inner self scoffs. _You're so considerate._

She has a point. Best friend or not, I don't think bothering Marina about my nightmares qualifies me as a good friend. Besides, I've told her about them once before, and even though she was completely wonderful about it, I don't want to repeat. I had let myself lean on her entirely on that _one _occasion. If I told her that it's been recurring, she'd be worried about me.

With a sigh, I cross back to my nightstand, though my eyes land on my flute. My fingers gently brush across it before picking it up. I then head outside my room, tiptoeing quietly down the stairs and out the front door.

* * *

><p>As I hold the last note of the trill I had been playing, a sudden slow clap fills the air. Startled, I slightly jump from the porch swing in my backyard.<p>

My hazel eyes quickly find the source in the dark: Gary Oak.

"What're you doing up?" I ask curiously, though my cheeks burn at the thought that he heard me playing. Maybe I even woke him up. Argh, stupid me. I thought that by going outside, I wouldn't be disturbing anyone…but I forgot about Gary.

_How could you possibly forget GARY? _Inner me laughs at my stupidity.

"I could ask the same thing to the girl currently playing the flute at two in the morning," Gary replies dryly to me, only his waist up visible to me because of the white picket fence separating our houses.

I flush as I subconsciously look him up and down. He's wearing a white t-shirt that, through the light of the moon and my porch light, reveals the hard muscles underneath.

I clear my throat, reminding myself not to _stare_, "I couldn't sleep."

"I didn't wake you, did I?" I add, looking hopeful.

Gary's viridian eyes examine me before he shakes his head, "Nah, I was already up."

"Oh," is all I can say as relief hits me.

Gary looks like he's contemplating saying something else to me. For some reason, he's being vulnerable towards me. Well, I wouldn't say vulnerable exactly but…open? It makes him much easier to read in comparison to normal. People's inability to properly read him always seemed to be that subtle wall of defense of his, so him being open to me almost feels like he's being vulnerable. I can't help but wonder what brought this on.

Not that I'm complaining. This is the first conversation we've had in _eight _years that wasn't about schoolwork or forced by someone else. This is just us.

"Are you okay?" I voice my thoughts before I can stop them. It appears my body's against me at the hour, because, a small pause later, it also pats the cushion of the spot on the porch bench besides me, welcoming him to sit there.

"Why do you ask?" Gary says, suddenly seeming defensive. He doesn't move from his place at the fence, which I'm not sure is good or not. He doesn't come sit next to me at the porch (which I guess is all for the best because then he'd hear how fast my heart beats around him), but he could also easily walk away from the conversation at any moment, and yet, he doesn't.

A part of me wonders if maybe he's had a bad dream also. Or that he's even crankier at two in the morning.

"I just thought…" I say awkwardly, trailing off.

As I do so, I remember what Marina had last said about Gary. That he seemed pretty relaxed to her and that maybe- just maybe- the reason that he was is because Marina was relaxed towards him. She suggested that maybe he was hostile towards me because I gave off a hostile or unsociable aura. And even though I want to deny it, it would make a lot of sense.

I force myself to finish. Whether or not Gary would've prompted me to do so, I feel like I _needed_ to. "…I thought you seemed a little…tired."

"Well, that's to be expected when a person wakes up in the middle of the night," Gary shrugs as he walks to the white gate and undoes the latch. It hasn't been used in such a long time, that I'm almost surprised it hasn't rusted over in the years.

With wide eyes, I watch Gary cross the distance between the gate and the backyard porch swing. He sits down next to me, and with the close proximity of his body, I can smell his usual evergreen scent. He smells like something fresh, clean. Almost like aftershave or an air freshener.

He's warm too. I can practically feel the heat radiating off of him in the cool night air, and I resist the sudden urge to get closer to him and snuggle against his arm.

"Not physically tired," I attempt to explain my words. To explain what I had meant concerning the slight wariness in Gary's eyes. "I meant…emotionally tired."

"Well, what about you?" Gary deflects the comment back to me, gesturing to my still slightly damp cheeks. "You seem the same way."

"I had a nightmare," I admit, scrunching my knees up to my chest. The fact that I confided this to _Gary_ of all people bowls me over.

We fall into a silence after my admission, and I can't help but wonder what he's thinking. Does he think that I had a shallow nightmare? Like I was scared over something materialistic? I don't know what's going on in Gary's head, and never before have I wanted so badly to know.

"…do you want to talk about it?" Gary asks, looking at me cautiously.

_He was probably expecting you to expand on your point after you told him_ Inner me chides.

She's been popping up a lot more lately. Maybe I should just call her "annoying" from now on so you know that it's her.

_Hey, I resent that! _Annoying says.

_More like you represent it _I think back.

Okay, maybe I should just stop here before you think I'm crazy.

"I-I'd rather not," I say, biting my lip. I add, "You might think it's…stupid. It's kinda embarrassing for me."

"I wouldn't know if it's stupid unless you tell me," Gary points out, though his eyes soften.

I still nervously twist my fingers together, lacing and unlacing them.

"Does it have to do with your flute?" Gary asks me. I notice how he subtly left the door open for a topic change.

"It kinda does. I usually play the flute after my nightmares to make those…ah, demons go away," I admit.

"So you have the same nightmare frequently?" I can just _feel_ his viridian eyes looking at me so intently.

I look at him in slight shock, wondering how he got that from my words. I hadn't been_ that_ painfully obvious, had I?

"I guessed since I heard you play the morning of the presentation," Gary explains to me.

I nod my head, shocked that Gary had _heard _me play that morning. Did that mean…?

I flush as I think of all the times I went on a "Gary rant". Or even at the beginning of the summer when I was loudly denying having a crush on Gary. Did he…hear _all_ of that too?

Note to self: don't say or do anything embarrassing or relating to Gary while in my room.

"I was wondering why I didn't hear you play guitar that morning," I say weakly, not thinking either.

And another note: don't talk to anybody- _especially_ Gary- in the early morning hours because you'll just embarrass yourself.

I feel Gary stiffen besides me, "You know?"

"Of course," I attempt to laugh off my mistake. "If you can hear me, I can hear you."

"Your _Gardevoir's Memoire_ beautiful," I ramble, my ears burning red as I continue. "It's my favorite piece that you play."

Why couldn't my mouth shut up?!

I look away from my next-door-neighbor abashedly.

"So you've been listening to me every morning for the past week or so?" Gary sounds amused, though there is an underlying tone of shock.

"I didn't tell anyone," I mumble into my knees, avoiding looking at him, "if that's what you're worried about."

"Huh," Gary says, "well a sort-of secret for a sort-of secret, I guess."

I'm starting to think that Gary's more of a night person. I mean, he has Umbreon, which only evolves from an eevee when given friendship at night. Knowing Gary, he was probably up at night thinking of pokémon battle strategies at the time. Not to mention, he's being really…._nice_ right now.

I hold my hand out to him, looking at him sideways. Gary merely looks at my hands for a moment before doing his part of the secret handshake we used to have whenever we would seal a deal or promise.

"You remember," he says quietly, sounding awed. He's had that tone for a lot of this conversation.

"I could say the same," I repeat his earlier words, my hazel eyes slowly sliding up from our hands and his arm to his own viridian eyes. And no matter how intense locking eyes with him is, I force myself to continue looking.

But my nervousness must show or something, because Gary's intense look softens.

"So," Gary says softly, his solemn face not matching his now teasing and amused tone, "you don't like volleyball nets."

What?! What's that supposed to mean?! I mean, it's true, but what is with the abrupt and random topic change? I almost want to smack Gary, because, _seriously,_ we were. having. a. moment.

…oh wait….Marina didn't…

_She did_ Annoying says _and stop calling me that!_

"Marina told you, didn't she?" I groan, putting my face to my hands as I finally pull my hand away from his.

_I thought she said the stories weren't bad! _Annoying yells in indignation.

A smirk develops in the place of his lips, "Among other things, yeah."

How mortifying! Marina probably told him all the embarrassing stories about myself!

"How much did she say?" I ask, my head still in my hands and a part of me _not_ wanting to know.

"Just enough that's equal to the stories I told her," Gary tells me, clearly amused.

"…what did you tell her exactly?" I finally let myself peek out from behind my fingers.

"The Stunky incident was one of them," he says nonchalantly.

I moan, "I'm _never_ going to live that down, am I?"

"Depends," Gary softly flicks me in the center of my forehead, "are you going to do something more embarrassing for me and Marina to tease you about instead?"

* * *

><p>"…..L….f"<p>

I turn over, hugging my pillow tighter as I bury my face more into it. The pillow helps me to drown out the sound and light beginning to stream into the room.

"..Le..f!"

"Later," I yawn, figuring I could probably use an hour or two more for sleep.

Something soft whacks me in the head, but I easily ignore it and attempt to return my rather nice dream. Gary and I made up and we even had a really nice conversation. Too bad it isn't real.

With a sharp tug, the person rips my blanket from me. Because I was practically wrapped in that soft, fuzzy blanket, I go rolling off the side of my bed and onto the floor.

The sudden jolt and cold feeling of the wooden floor against my face causes me to jolt and push myself upright so that I'm kneeling, "I'm up!"

"It's about time!" Marina huffs, already dressed. "I said your name, like, _fifteen_ times!"

"Geez, Mari," I yawn, "No need to get so worked up. What time is it?"

"It's almost noon!" Marina says, looking at her Pokéwatch.

"In Sevii time or Pallet Town time?" I cast her a skeptical look, doubting that Marina had remembered to change it. It would explain why she would be able to wake up so early.

"…Sevii time," Marina admits sheepishly.

"Then it's only almost eight," I stretch my arms, still yawning. "There's still time for breakfast."

"Well, whatever," Marina pouts, "The point is, Misty texted me earlier and said that we're all eating at Gary's house."

"I'll pass," I mentally wince, remembering how false my beautiful dream had been from reality.

"No," Marina says sternly, putting her hands on her hips, "You're going to this breakfast at Gary's house whether you like it or not."

"Fine," I groan in defeat, too tired in the morning to bother arguing with Marina.

"Yay," Marina claps her hands together enthusiastically as she begins to walk out of my room, "Make sure to wear something cute and eye-grabbing for Gary!"

"No!" I yell defiantly back through the door, shutting it after her.

But I still begin to eye the clothes in my closet, considering what _would_ make me look really cute.

* * *

><p><strong>Gary<strong>

I am not a morning person. If that's not a sentence comprehensible enough for you, then you'll be surprised by my attitude in the morning.

"Could you _chew_ any louder, Ashy Boy?" I ask in annoyance, pinching the bridge of my nose as I'm subject to listening to the sounds of Ash's teeth mashing against his breakfast.

"I think so," Ash swallows his waffles loudly before shoveling in some more. "Schee?" he points to his mouth as his jaw opens and closes in a loud and drawn-out manner.

I roll my eyes, "I was being sarcastic, Ashy Boy."

"Geez, Gary," Ash shovels in more waffles into his mouth. "No need to be so grumpy."

I'm not _grumpy_ per se. Just a bit anxious. I merely poke at my own waffles until I hear a knock at the front door.

My older sister's voice rings out, "Gary, I'm a little busy. Can you get that, little bro?"

I stand up reluctantly and go to open the front door, expecting Misty.

Instead, it's Marina, Leaf's friend from Sevii Island.

"Goooood mornin'!" Marina states cheerfully, waving her hand at me energetically.

"Did Misty invite you and Leaf?" I sigh, folding my arms.

Leave it to Misty to constantly invite the two.

"Yep!" Marina nods, "but Leaf was taking too long to wake up, so I left without her."

_It's probably from this morning. She woke up pretty early._

"Well," I begin to turn from her, gesturing to the direction of the dining room. "food's that way."

"Wait!" Marina grabs my hand, pulling me towards her, "I, um…have a question for you."

I raise an eyebrow, "You can ask me the question on the way there. Or while we're eating."

"Nononono," Marina shakes her head rapidly, "I, uh, want to ask you this in private."

"Ooookay?" I jam my hands into the pockets of my jeans while I wait for her question.

"Do you think leaving your patio door unlocked is a good idea?" The blue-haired Sevii girl asks me, a suddenly sly smile spreading across her face.

"Wha-?" I start, confused at where her random question came from.

Before I can finish, someone jumps on me from behind, their legs locking around my midsection and their arms around their neck. Like an embrace from behind in a way.

I nearly stumble forward into Marina at the sudden weight on my back.

"The answer is no!" the person says, a hint of glee and amusement to her voice.

"Is there any reason why you wanted to break into my house?" I ask, not bothering to turn my head to see who it is.

"You invited me," Leaf reminds me, laughing. She rubs her hands into my spiked hair, attempting to ruffle it up.

She's incredibly life-like this morning. It's almost as if the meek Leaf from earlier didn't exist.

_This…this is what my Leaf was like…before everything changed._

"Which would make walking through the front door like a normal person an option," I say in dead pan, walking towards the kitchen.

"Hey!" Leaf protests, "Wait! Let me down!"

"You hopped up there, obnoxious girl. Deal with the consequences."

I let her down before we reach the dining room anyway. The last thing I needed was for Daisy to see and then think that I was with Leaf or something.

Leaf flushes as she releases her arms from around my neck. It's like the moment she got off of my back, she's back to being quiet again. Weird.

She also shyly pulls down her skirt further down her legs, attempting to cover up more of her skin and ensure her skirt hadn't ridden up when she hopped onto me. I eye her long legs for a moment before the heat in my ears causes me to look away.

Marina, who had been cheerfully following us, puts both of her hands on our shoulders, "Nothing like a tiny prank to break the ice!"

I raise my eyebrow at Leaf, who merely flushes even more and looks away.

"How did you even know the back door's unlocked anyway?" I ask Leaf.

"You always left it unlocked when we were children," Leaf shrugs, "I was just lucky it's still the case now."

I consider protesting this and saying that I only left it unlocked during the day while I was at home, but then I think better of it.

"And this was Marina's idea," she adds, twiddling with her thumbs a little, "I didn't…I don't want to come across as weird."

She throws a small glare at her friend, who merely smiles brightly in response.

"It was actually all Leaf's idea," Marina jerks her thumb to the brunette. "I just gave her some…_encouragement_."

Leaf splutters in response. "Wha-! No, I-"

I merely put my elbow on top of her head, knocking off her white fedora in the process and letting my own skin rest against her soft, warm hair for a moment. Then my hand musses it up, ruffling her hair as she had done to me. "There. Now we're even."

Leaf, after retrieving her hat from the ground and placing back atop her head, merely smiles at me.

* * *

><p><strong>Misty<strong>

"Nonononono," I say frantically, putting my hands against the front desk loudly. I could care less if I was causing a scene. "_Please_ tell me you have _one_ room that hasn't been booked yet."

"I'm sorry, Misty," Nurse Joy shakes her head at me sympathetically. "But the Prestige Competition is bringing in a lot of coordinators and spectators alike to Pallet Town. I'm afraid we're full."

"But what about the room I've been staying in for the past two weeks or so?" I plead.

"That room was only free then because it wasn't during the time of the Prestige Contest," Nurse Joy explains. She reaches for the pamphlets by her computer. "But I encourage you to check out the hotels in Pallet Town before they're all booked up too."

"Okay," I sigh, taking the paper booklet from her and turning away from the desk resignedly. A dark-blue haired girl eagerly takes my spot after me.

School for PTSA is now over, but Ash has had yet to invite me to travel with him on his pokémon journey like I originally intended. I'm also really having fun in Pallet Town, and I certainly don't want to go back to Cerulean yet.

I feel my pokégear vibrate in my bag. I have a cellphone, though, so I wonder why this person isn't calling me from that instead. I get my answer when my sisters appear on the pokégear.

"Hey, little sis!" Daisy cheerfully greets me from the screen.

"Okay, how could you guys possibly have given away all the gym badges?!" I burst out in annoyance. I _know_ that they would only call me if there was a problem with the gym. "The pokémon training season hasn't even officially started!"

"Like, chill, Misty," Lily rolls her eyes, "We haven't done that…_yet_."

"We just wanted to check in on our little sis," Violet says a little too innocently. "We were just wondering if you've managed to get together with your boyfriend."

"Ash _isn't_ my boyfriend," I respond through gritted teeth. "Anyway, how's Cerulean Gym?"

I hear a gasp in the background, but I ignore it.

"Remember what I told you about Egypt, Mist," Lily winks at me conspiratorially.

"The gym is fine," Daisy tells me with a calm smile, "but we were just wondering how you were. And, ya know, when you're coming back."

"Ash and the rest of Pallet Town recently got out of school," I tell her, "so it'll be awhile, okay? I told you I was going to travel with him this summer."

I manage to extract a promise from all three of them to stop giving away badges and hang up with as little irritation as I possibly can.

"Excuse me," I feel a person tap onto my shoulder.

I turn around, forcing a polite smile onto my face. I'm late for breakfast at Gary's house already.

"Yes?" I ask, finding myself face to face with a girl younger than me. I remember her as the girl who had been in line after me.

Her dark blue eyes shine, "Oh my gosh, you _are_ her!"

"I'm who?" my smile is wiped from my face, replaced by an expression of confusion.

"You're-!" The girl then does my victory pose, closing one eye in a wink and flashing me a peace sign. She then drops the pose, looking at me excitedly. "You're Ash's friend from Cerulean, the one who gave him that lure!"

"That'd be me," I answer slowly, still confused. And a little worried as to how this girl knows.

She reaches her hand out, showing me the high-tech looking watch on her wrist in the process. "Then we're both friends of Ash ."

I take her hand, giving it a firm shake, "I'm Misty Waterflower, the gymleader of Cerulean."

"Let me guess," I say as I pull my hand away. "You're here for the Prestige Contest?"

"Yup!" She nods her head, her dark blue eyes shining brightly. "I'm Dawn Berlitz."

* * *

><p><strong>Originally this was going to be longer, but I REALLY wanted to update today. I actually wrote the majority of this chapter in one day, merely because I finally got past writer's block and summoned the will to get past this filler chapter.<strong>

**In case you totally missed the last part, Dawn's arrived in MN! (Geez, it's about time I brought in more characters). Alright, a couple things: first, sorry that Ash is barely in here. Misty too to a certain extent. Second, yeah, I know this chapter is pretty short in comparison to my other long chapters, but I really wanted to update, and I wouldn't have the longer chapter done soon enough. Third, are you guys happy now? I gave you guys some Leaf/Gary interaction that actually didn't blow up into a fight (usually it's passive-aggressive).**

**And you know this is coming, but, guys, I STILL suck at endings. Maybe not the ending to Misty's but I personally found my endings for Leaf and Gary to be very choppy. I'll be working on that, I promise.**

**Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions!**


	9. Jealousy Takes Root

**HAPPY ORS DAY! (I think... that's what some forums say, so IDK really...)**

**Really wanted something done, but didn't really manage to finish until I just last-half-an hour crammed. Meh, I'll just act as if there's an ORS week. Expect other updates in some of my other stories soon! **

**/I WILL MOST LIKELY EDIT THIS AFTER ORS DAY ENDS BECAUSE I KNOW THIS IS BAD BUT I HAVE TO GO TO SLEEP, PLEASE DON'T HATE ME/**

**- This is what consistent four hours of sleep for the past three months will do to a person.**

**Warning: Super long, OOC-ness galore, and you'll probably be bashing your head wondering why you ever followed this story.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon, as evidenced by the bad portrayal in this chapter. I do own Damien and Della, so no touchie.**

* * *

><p><strong>Gary<strong>

"I wonder where Misty is," Marina says out loud, putting her fork down. "Breakfast's almost over."

Ash doesn't say anything at this, instead blankly staring at his plate and swallowing.

"I'm going to go get more food," Ash says, uncharacteristically quiet as he gets up to go to the kitchen.

Pikachu, still on the table, looks worriedly after his trainer, "Pika…"

"What's up with Asher?" Leaf asks me, pointing to the direction Ash went after he's out of earshot.

"I don't know," I shrug. "I have a feeling it may or may not have to do with Misty though."

"Still?" Leaf murmurs, looking out the window. I have a feeling that she didn't intend for Marina and I to hear, because she doesn't bother expanding.

I'm about to ask her what she means by that (did she talk to Ash about something that I didn't?), but the doorbell cuts off my opportunity. Without a word, I get up to answer the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

While Gary goes to answer the door, Marina leans across the table to whisper conspiratorially to me. "I see you and Gary were getting along earlier."

"Not kicking me out or giving me the silent treatment isn't exactly 'getting along'." I point out.

He's tolerating me, that's all. It's not like last night was anything more than a dream. I hadn't bothered to pinch myself last night, so now I have no proof that my conversation with Gary even happened.

"You should talk to him," Marina suggests, ever nosy when it comes to my love life- or rather, lack of.

I open my mouth to speak, but I'm interrupted by an excited squeal that suspiciously sounds like 'Gary!'

At this, I'm severely tempted to get up and see what's happening, but Marina's raised eyebrow roots me to my seat. I'm already compromising my "I don't really care about Gary" position.

In what feels like forever, Gary enters the dining room with the squealer, followed by Misty.

"So _this_ is the famous Oak residence," the navy-haired girl bubbles, her arm linked around Gary's. "I've always wondered what it'd look like."

"It looks like a normal home," Gary deadpans before catching my eyes. I flush slightly in response and go back to poking at my waffles.

The girl's bright blue eyes survey the room before landing on those of us seated at the table.

"No way!" She claps her hands together and rushes over to us, causing her pink mini-skirt to swish at the movement. "You're Marina Leprade! I saw you in an article of _Coordinator's Weekly_!"

"Guilty as charged," Marina winks, most likely brimming with happiness from the inside. She always took joy in being recognized as a pokémon idol.

I remember that interview she had last summer. I had to wait in the lobby for two and a half hours and then listen to Marina's crazy antics afterwards…and then get dragged back to the Pokétch Corporation building so Marina could model for them for an hour.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted to meet you!" the bluenette slides into the seat next to Marina. "I've been wondering how you were able to come up with that combination move from your Misdreavus."

"Little Miss? Oh, she's just adorable! I could tell you, but then, you know, I wouldn't have any secrets for myself," Marina babbles, getting into what Jimmy and I refer to as 'the point of no return'.

"Oh, come on, please?" she pouts in response, looking at her beseechingly. "Coordinator to coordinator?"

At this Marina gasps. "Oh my Mew! I just realized where I've seen you before! You're Johanna Berlitz's daughter!"

I resist the urge to ask exactly who Johanna Berlitz is, and perhaps it's a good thing that I do. The other girl's smile slips slightly, but it returns with full force a moment later.

"Yup," she chirps, though for some reason I can already sense the lessened pep. She holds out her hand, flashing her pink pokétch. She must be from Sinnoh. "I'm Dawn Berlitz!"

Now, before I embarrass myself, let me tell you that when someone introduces themselves, the normal thing to do is to tell them your name too. Except that Dawn was never talking to me- I'm kinda offended when I think about it actually.

"My name's Leaf," I insert myself into the conversation, forgetting that I was most likely not welcome.

No offense to Dawn, but she struck me as the cheerleader type: overly peppy and friendly, fashionable and girly judging from her pink- inspired clothes, and, of course, having some sort of relationship with Gary. And, typically, I find that I have nothing in common with those girls.

If I'm the cloud in her sunny skies, Dawn doesn't show it. She smiles widely at me too and moves her outstretched hand so that it's towards me.

As I take her hand, Dawn tilts her head inquisitively to the side. "So who are you to Gary?"

I'm not sure how to answer this question, and I instinctively turn to Gary for his reaction….except he's engaged in a hushed conversation with Misty, who looks slightly distraught.

"I'm actually a friend of Ash Ketchum," I answer haltingly, deciding to just give a safe response. Marina gives me an odd look. "Have you heard of him?"

Of course, at this moment, Asher decides to reappear with his plate stacked ceiling high with waffles.

"Ash!" Dawn squeals, practically flying out of her chair to give the raven-haired trainer a hug. "It's been so long! How are you?"

Even Pikachu greets the bluenette happily, clearly showing familiarization. I feel the tiniest bit envious, but only because Pikachu still acts slightly formal with me. Had I managed to maintain my friendship with Asher, Pikachu would be greeting me like that too.

"I'll take it that she knows him," Marina says lightheartedly, resting her chin in the cradle that her hands form.

"She traveled with Ash in Sinnoh," Misty says as she replaces Dawn's seat at the table. She eyes the two with what looks like a critical eye. Both are oblivious to us looking at them, caught up in…well, catching up with one another.

"I thought you were the one who travels with Ash." My mouth lets those words out before my brain even approves of it.

Misty manages to maintain the same facial expression, though I'm sure the subject –Ash- might be sore. "Well, being a travel companion to Ash doesn't have too many requirements."

"Gary had more girls following him anyway," the gym leader adds after I exchange a look with Marina.

"That's because I was _that_ awesome." Gary places a plate of waffles in front of Misty and sits down next to me. "They were a little bit of a hindrance on my pokémon journey though."

"Yeah, I'm sure that their cheers about you eventually even tired _you_ out," Misty jokes, a smile finally appearing on her face.

"He seriously had a convertible filled with cheerleaders at the age of ten?!" Marina says incredulously. I resist the urge to face palm. "I thought that was an exaggeration."

Both Misty and Gary look at me. Gary frowns a little, no doubt picking up on the fact that I was the one who told Marina that…which meant that I would've talked about him at some point.

Marina, immediately aware that she had basically threw me under a bus, desperately attempts to save me. "You know how those professors love to gossip when they meet for a conference! Professor Oak was probably so proud."

Gary snorts but luckily doesn't pursue the matter.

At this point, Ash and Dawn finally sit at the table, though Dawn is talking at a million words per minute about some contest. Surprisingly, Asher nods his head and even says a few things when he can, proving that he's _actually _listening. Since it's something to do with coordinating, Marina happily enters the conversation.

Without a doubt in my mind, however, I think Asher's just doing this so he can avoid talking to Misty. She doesn't seem to acknowledge this at all though, instead talking to Gary about the time when they were ten and all on a pokémon journey. The topic isn't something I can really participate in so I just awkwardly listen.

A sudden buzz catches my attention. Checking to make sure that Gary and Misty weren't paying attention to me, I discreetly pull my phone out my pocket. The screen lights up with my latest message.

'_Cafe in 1 hr? Break at 11:45 '_

I attempt to maintain a calm expression on my face, but I'm sure the corners of my lips turn upwards just the slightest. I just find it so adorable that Damien knows her schedule so well.

I text underneath the table, thinking that to blatantly text when I could possibly be talking to the others would be rude.

'_Sure. Does she know?'_

His response comes quickly. _'No. Outside good? I'll pay.'_

'_Good. And we can split. I'm a modern girl after all ;)'_

'_Lol, whatever you say, modern girl. Do you think we can pull it off?'_

At this point, I feel someone's gaze on me. My first guess is that it's Gary staring holes into my head, but, when I look up, I find myself locking eyes with none other than Miss Positive Peppy. She gives me a small smile before turning back to her conversation with Asher and Marina.

Deciding to wonder what _that_ was about later, I return to texting Damien._ 'Well, I know for a fact that we have chemistry ;)'_

'_Haha, very clever. See ya in a few, Leaf.' _

"What about you?" Gary's voice pulls my attention away from my phone the moment after my phone receives Damien's latest message. It's a good thing it's short and easy to read quickly.

"What about me?" I ask politely, subtly tucking my phone back into my pocket. "Sorry, I zoned out for a few minutes."

Gary gives me a look that tells me he doesn't believe my lie, but he doesn't call me out on it.

"We asked about your pokémon journey," Misty says helpfully.

_Why is she referring to Gary as 'we'? _Annoying questions, sounding ever like a jealous girlfriend.

Except Gary's not my boyfriend…and I'm not jealous. At all.

"Oh." I shift a little in my seat, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable. "There's…not much to tell. I battled pokémon gym leaders and trainers alike, walked from city to city, and camped it out on the roads when the pokémon center wasn't an option. You know, the typical trainer life."

"Hmm." Misty thoughtfully tilts her head to the side as she drums her fingers on the table. "I wonder why Ash and I never ran into you."

"I wonder…" I force a small smile on my face as I answer vaguely. "We must've been in the same area but never came across each other."

"Actually," Gary speaks up, his arms folded across his chest. "I think I might've seen you back at Cerulean Cape."

"You know," Gary adds when I don't say something right away. "back when Mist's sisters were in charge and just handed out the badges."

Deep down I knew that this is an innocent comment, but the sensitive part of me feels as if this is a dig. Like I could only get the Cerulean badge because it was handed to me. That is most likely _not _Gary's intention, but, all of a sudden, I feel the need to get out of here.

"Maybe," I say stiffly. I pull out my phone, half- heartedly pretending that I received an urgent text. "Um, anyway, thanks for breakfast. I gotta go."

Even though my show probably couldn't convince even Asher, I briskly leave the Oak's house before anybody- _Gary_- could call me out on it.

* * *

><p><strong>Gary<strong>

After Leaf left, the girls decided to go out to town and shop around. And, of course, when girls go shopping, they apparently _have_ to bring along their own pack mules.

" . Mew!" Marina stops suddenly, looking at her pokétch. "They're having a sale at your music store!"

"And you're excited because…?" Misty raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"Does it matter?!" Marina jumps up and down excitedly. "We _have_ to go!"

No doubt she wants to buy some album cd from some boy band. It's kinda hard to reconcile this girly coordinator idol with an intelligent research aide, but I suppose I've had a harder time changing my arrogant playboy image.

Since Misty and Dawn don't really care about the next shopping destination and Ash and I don't get to voice our opinion, Marina leads us to the music store. Misty walks beside the Sevii-islander, while Ash straggles a little bit behind them. I lag behind completely, though I notice Dawn drops back from the girls so she can match me step for step.

"So what's up with those two?" Dawn asks me, lowering her voice to a whisper as she points to Misty and Ash with a jerk of her thumb.

"I don't know," I answer, shrugging my shoulder in indifference. Her question is also kinda vague. If she's expecting me to gossip with her like a girl, she can forget about it.

"You sure?" Dawn persists. "Because I can kinda sense something…"

"C'mon, Gary," she adds with a pout, disappointed by my lack of interest. "You've known them both for a long time."

"It's their business." I shrug once more, not particularly interested in the topic either. My mind keeps racing back to this morning, picking apart each of Leaf's actions.

So far, the only thing I deduced is that something happened during her pokémon journey that she doesn't feel comfortable talking about. There's a possibility that it has to do with the nightmares that she confided to me, but… until I manage to recreate that atmosphere from last night and get her to talk, I won't know.

"Well," Dawn says, regardless of my words. She smiles widely, "I think there's something romantic in the air."

Before I can say anything, Ashy-Boy suddenly stops ahead of us.

"Hey," he says once we're right behind him. He raises his finger in the diagonal direction of across the street. "Isn't that Leaf?"

And, no surprise, when Dawn and I look to where Ash pointed, my eyes see an all-too-familiar brunette happily dining outside a cafe with none other than Damien _freakin'_ Cross.

"I didn't know she had a date," Dawn comments with a look of surprise on her face. "But then again, I just met the girl…"

All of a sudden, my earlier guesses for Leaf's behavior fall away to reveal the truth.

I had noticed her texting with a small smile on her face, but I had chalked that up to her texting Marina in their own private conversation. Now I know that it had been Damien she had been texting. Her discomfort about her pokémon journey morphed into anxiety at possibly being late for her date. That also explained her half-batched explanation for leaving, speedy exit, and even the clothes she wore to breakfast.

"It can't be a date…" Ash narrows his eyes, surveying the happy couple critically. "She doesn't like him like that."

"What, she told you that herself?" I find myself saying to Ashy Boy. Even to my own ears my voice sounds slightly bitter. After Misty brought Leaf back to our group a little, Ash began acting really chummy with her.

"Woah." Dawn, sensing tension in the air, quickly steps in between us, though there's really no need. "Let's take this down a notch, okay?"

I almost feel bad for the Sinnoh coordinator. Of course she didn't expect any potential argument between Ashy Boy and me. When I met her, I had matured enough to stop unnecessarily taunting and teasing the chump.

I tilt my head to the side, challenging my childhood rival and best friend. "Why don't we go find out if it's a date since you're so convinced it's not?"

Before Ash can so much as agree or disagree, I begin walking further down the sidewalk to the closest crosswalk. After punching the button, I look over at Leaf again.

She laughs at something he says and leans even closer to him.

Ignoring the raging feeling rising inside of me, I push the button again and continue to tap my foot impatiently at the sign.

* * *

><p><strong>Misty<strong>

Somehow along the way, we lost Gary, Ash, and Dawn. Which is almost ironic considering that Ash and Gary have lived in Pallet for all of their lives and would be the least likely to be lost.

Well, okay, maybe not Ash. But I know Gary wouldn't separate from the group accidentally. Even though Dawn seems like a sweet girl, I can't help but think that she's behind the sudden ditch. To be honest, only Marina really wants to be here. Speaking of-

"Oh my Mew, oh my Mew, oh my Mew!" Marina practically hyperventilates as we step foot into the music store.

Though it is small on the outside, the store actually seems bigger on the inside thanks to its countless rows of music cd's and even a few vintage records. Surprisingly, there are a lot of people wandering up and down the aisles, particularly in the back corner.

Of course, Marina wants to head straight to that back corner, ever ready to beat back the mob to get to her music.

"Wish me luck," the bluenette says grimly as she rolls up the sleeves of her white sweater. "I'm going in."

Deciding that the best way to catch up with the others is to save time, I go to the cashier in the front. Hopefully Marina would grab what she wanted quickly so she could just come up here and pay.

"Welcome to _Chingling Melodies_," the raven-haired employee says unenthusiastically. In fact, she looks almost anxious, looking at the clock on the nearby wall and drumming her fingers on the counter. "And yes, this store is _seriously_ named that."

"How can I help you?" She quickly adds, probably to be a little more courteous.

"Well-" I start, sneaking a quick look at her nametag on her shirt. I motion to where Marina and a mass of people are gathered. "Della, what exactly is the big deal about today?"

She snorts, rolling her lilac eyes in slight exasperation. "The latest album for this all-the-rage band is on sale. A store contact managed to snag them for sale before they've been officially released."

The conversation is casually pleasant, and I figure that if I make friends with the clerk, then maybe she could ring us up a little bit more quickly or something. "I take it you don't like the band that much?"

"Nah." Della waves her hand, dismissing my statement. "I still like them. Just not as much before they became mainstream."

Before I can say anything to that, Della holds a hand up to get me to stop talking for a second.

"Yo, Carl!" Della shouts to a middle-aged man in a red polo passing by. "I'm going out on my lunch break!"

"No, you aren't," the manager answers, not even looking up from his clipboard. "The store's busy so you're working past your shift until they are _all_ gone."

"There'd be more employees to work shifts if it wasn't for your _pleasant_ personality," Della mutters under her breath after the curly-haired man walks away.

"That sucks," I say sympathetically. It doesn't look like this horde of fans wouldn't be dissipating any time soon. "You must be really hungry, huh?"

"Yeah, something like that," Della replies vaguely, drumming her fingers against the counter once more and casting a side glance out the front window.

At this moment, a victorious- if not slightly disheveled- Marina manages to make her way up to the cashier.

"Ring me up, please!" Marina declares as she puts the cd onto the counter. Her eyes quickly dart from side to side, as if checking to make sure no one else is around other than us. "Quickly please. I kinda took this from a vicious pre-teen girl."

Della laughs, "From the hands of one rabid fangirl to the next."

After ringing Marina up and taking back the signed receipt, Della pauses. She looks us up and down, this time more critically.

"Are you two friends with Leaf Green?" she narrows her lilac eyes. She looks kinda pissed off.

"Um…" my mouth runs dry, wondering what Leaf could've possibly done to make this girl angry.

"Uh huh, uh huh." Marina waves her off, looking very intently at the four guys on the cd cover.

Marina just threw both of us under a bus.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." I smile widely, pretending that anything after her question didn't happen. I quickly loop my arm through Marina's and drag her from the store.

"Good call," Marina says, still not looking up from the cd cover. If we were anime, there'd be hearts in her eyes. "The little girl from earlier was almost out of the crowd. She probably would've clawed my eyes out."

I roll my eyes good-naturedly. "Alright, if you can manage to tear your eyes away from your future husband, help me look for the others."

"Oooh!" Marina begins to rub her cheek against the cd cover. "I can't choose just one of them! They're all my babies! I'll marry them all!"

Before I can point out that she's talking about polyandry, Marina suddenly drops her fangirl air.

"Hey." Marina narrows her eyes slightly. She points to the café directly across the street from us. "Isn't that Gary over there?"

"Huh. I guess Ash got hungry and dragged them there," I comment, figuring that that's the most plausible reason.

Except Ash isn't gobbling down food like he normally would be. He's glaring at a dark-haired guy sitting across from-

"Leaf had a date?" I ask Marina, figuring that if anyone knew the answer, it'd be her.

"No," Marina denies, with a look of shock and slight hurt as she realizes that Leaf's there too. "She would've told me…"

Clearly she didn't, but I didn't want to tell Marina that and hurt her feelings.

"Let's go over there." Marina grabs my hand and begins to drag me across the street. "I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding."

To say that Marina and I stumbled upon an awkward situation would be an understatement. Leaf and her companion still sit at their own table with two other seats to spare, but Dawn, Gary, and Ash still hover around them. The overall effect is uncomfortable, especially given the glares both Gary and Ash-and even _Pikachu_- are sending Leaf's date.

Leaf's date, however, doesn't seem the least bit concerned by the two idiots. Instead, he looks rather amused.

Dawn, evidently attempting to fill the silent air with chatter, is bubbling about the menu options. Leaf, on the other hand, merely looks on with facial expressions ranging from annoyed and anxious.

"Heya!" Marina effortlessly cuts the tension by sitting at Leaf's table. I quietly follow suit. Marina, ever so oblivious, beams. "Can you believe what I had to go through to get the new _Blazing Emblem_ album?!"

"I believe it." Leaf smiles slightly as she holds up a cd album identical to Marina's. "I stopped by the music store earlier too."

"Wait." Dawn quickly pulls up another chair and sits down next to Leaf. "Isn't that cd supposed to be released next month?!"

"You should have come with us to the store," Marina sing-songs, waving her cd in the other bluenette's face teasingly.

With that, they begin to fan spasm over this boy band. I take this opportunity to observe the two Pallet town trainers I've known since the age of ten.

Ash looks more like he wants to take Leaf away from the café and never return, while Gary-

Well, he looks downright murderous.

Feeling my gaze, Gary finally takes a break from trying to glare a hole through the poor guy's head. I raise an eyebrow at the brunet, questioning his odd behavior. He couldn't be jealous… could he?

Then again, Ash seems to be jealous too. At this thought, I attempt to keep my own green monster from rising up.

Suddenly, Leaf speaks up. "It's nice to, um, run into you guys, but do you mind leaving Damien and I alone?"

Damien seems slightly apologetic as he adds, "I'm afraid that this was meant to be a date, not a group outing."

At this, Marina sends Leaf a questioning look that the latter ignores.

"Oh, geez." Dawn claps her hands together as she stands up. She bows apologetically, but a look of relief hints that she had been waiting for the two to say something. "I'm sorry about that. Have fun together, you two!"

The Sinnoh coordinator loops her arms through both Ash and Gary's and manages to drag them away with surprising strength. The morons both open their mouths to protest, but ultimately are unable to do anything but give one last synchronized glare to Damien.

* * *

><p><strong>Marina<strong>

I met Leaf when we were eight, and ever since, we've been the best of friends…which is why I'm not buying this "I'm into Damien" attitude of hers. She's never _once_ mentioned this Damien guy. The only ones I've ever heard about were Ash and Gary.

Not to mention, both Leaf and Damien are acting a little too smug for my liking…

"Oh how cute!" I smile widely at my best friend and her 'date'. "Who knows? Maybe we'll be able to double date this summer!"

"Maybe." Leaf smiles haltingly as she and Damien exchange a brief glance.

_Gotcha_.

It's almost too kawaii that Leaf thinks she can hide things from me.

"Perfect!" I clap my hands together enthusiastically. "You gotta tell me _all_ the deets later, 'kay Leaf?"

"Of course." Leaf, at this point, sends me a look that says 'Get outta here already, Mari!'

At this, I make my exit with Misty in tow.

The red-head turns to smile at the happy 'couple'. "Sorry about earlier, and I hope you guys have fun!"

We then start to go inside so we can actually get some lunch (and maybe spy on Leaf a little). Misty and I barely make it past the front door before we're pulled into a booth by Gary and Dawn respectively.

"What're you doing…?" Misty slowly asks Gary, taking in the disguises they have on.

While Gary shields a large portion of his face with Dawn's new aviator sunglasses and black scarf, Ash wears my grey beanie and hipster glasses in an attempt to conceal their identities. The two of them are constantly peering out the window to watch, while Dawn of all people actually tries to order food so the staff won't kick us out.

"We're eating lunch," Gary says smoothly, completely ignoring the fact that he's almost frantically looking out the window. Whenever Leaf laughs, his mouth sets into a kind of sullen pout.

Awwww, can they seriously just get together or something?

"Leaf _does not_ like Damien," Ash suddenly declares rather matter-of-factly.

"Maybe she does," Misty says, a bit of edge to her voice. "She _is_ on a date with him after all."

"Leaf's too good for him." Ash responds sullenly. "She deserves the best."

His statement, though heart-warming for me, seems to have the opposite effect on Misty and Gary.

"I don't exactly see what's so bad about Damien." Misty frowns. "He seems nice."

"He does," I hum in agreement. "But I think Damien's better suited for another girl."

I wait for someone to react in some way, but none of them do.

C'mon, seriously? No one gets what I'm putting down?

Resisting the urge to groan aloud, I cheerily point out, "Hey, isn't that the girl from the music store?"

* * *

><p><strong>Leaf<strong>

"Twelve o'clock," I whisper to Damien before leaning a little back from him and giggling furiously. "Oh, s_top_! You're so funny!"

Damien laughs too, but not as much since he's the one who supposedly told the joke.

The way we're seated, I can see Della, but Damien can't. Which also means I'm the only one who's been blessed enough to see her murderous glare.

Wow, jealousy is _not_ something I should be tampering with…

I'm just lucky she's not really holding anything right now. Earlier, when I had stopped by the music store by myself, she looked like she wanted to bludgeon my face in with a VHS tape.

I mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation from Della Evengale, but, to my surprise, she walks right by our table.

Of course Della decides to be a wildcard up until the very end, effectively screwing up my plans.

"Oh hey Della!" I call out, causing her to stop mid-step.

I just sealed my fate, but, you know, just doing a solid for a chemistry partner.

"Hey yourself," Della responds icily, though she does take a few steps closer to our table. She turns to Damien. "I thought you said you were busy …?"

"Yeah." Damien smiles. "I have a date with Leaf today. I actually brought her here based on your recommendation."

He might as well have slapped her in the face.

"I see," the raven-haired girl attempts to smile, but it comes out as a slight grimace instead. "Anyway, I'm just here on my lunch break so I gotta go now."

"That's too bad." I purse my lips and try to look mock-sympathetic. "Well, bye now."

Della only looks between the two of us before turning to leave once more. She hesitates though, and looks over her shoulder at us. "So is this going to be an ongoing thing…?"

"Because, you know, that may interfere with our future hangouts," Della quickly adds. "I mean, Carl's been forcing me to take longer shifts, so I have less free time…"

"Yeah," I cut in with a giggle. "_Damie _and I are probably going to go steady. And I have no problem at all with you two hanging out since you only see him as a friend, right?"

_Very subtle, _Annoying says, rather amused.

"Just really good friends," Della says through clenched teeth, opting to _not_ strangle me.

"I always thought you two were together or something," I babble, trying to get a rise out of the other girl. "but now I see that's so laughable!"

"_Leaf_." Damien attempts to warn, but the twinkle in his golden eyes indicates he knows what I'm doing.

"How so?" Della demands, ignoring Damien. There's a certain coldness to her voice. "We understand one another, and we cover each other's weaknesses. We've been friends for a long time too. That's more than I can say for you two."

"What?" I challenge, standing up from my seat. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm acting specifically to provoke her, I would be scared out of my mind. "So you're saying the only thing preventing you two from being together is lack of feelings? Because, you know, _Damie_ and I have chemistry together."

Out of my peripherals, I see Damien attempt to suppress a smile at the now inside joke.

Della snorts. "Clearly you need to take that class over again. You have no idea what that word truly means."

"Oh," I shoot back, daring to reach out to jab her in the chest. "-so you think _you_ and Damien have chemistry?!"

"Oh, I _know_!" Della says impulsively. Her facial expression freezes in shock for a moment before it returns to the hard glare. "Damien and I would last longer. How much longer do you think _you two_ would last?"

"I don't know," I respond with wry grin as I safely back away from her reaching range. "I'd say about…one more minute?"

I turn to Damien, who gives me an ever so grateful smile. "So, Dame, is that enough proof or what?"

"…Proof?" Della sputters, looking between the two of us as if just realizing I had no romantic interest in Damien.

"That'll do. Thanks, Leaf." Damien steps closer to Della, shooting her a brilliant smile. "So, Dell, still trying to be platonic?"

"I-I…" Della turns red. "But you…"

Damien chuckles as he places a hand on her head affectionately. "Now that I know, I'll keep waiting for you; no matter how long it takes for you to process your feelings."

The raven-haired girl flushes but allows him to continue contact.

_I would've thought she'd be angrier about being tricked_, Annoying muses, _Oh well. Good for us._

Being ever logical, the two opt to speak about this new development in their relationship, and Damien walks Della back to the music store. I give them both my blessing and two sandwiches Damien and I had ordered. Regardless of my status as a modern girl, Damien paid anyway.

I'm basking in the glow of success- and the adrenaline of still being alive despite severely pissing off Della- for a few moments when I get my rude wake-up to reality.

The front door of the café is shoved open with such force that I hear a _'bang!'_ before the bells. Loud footsteps follow, accompanied by what suspiciously sounds like Marina saying 'H-hey, wait!'.

I exhale, trying to summon the strength to face the others. I could've just told them I was fake-dating Damien, but I didn't want to say anything unless Damien specifically said I could. And, to be honest, even if he gave the okay, it still wouldn't feel right.

_Huh_, Annoying inputs, _Now who warned you not to do this?_

"Why did Della just walk off with Cross?" Gary asks from behind me, sounding both curious and miffed. "Isn't he _your_ date?"

Suddenly 110% more self-conscious, I merely shrug and avoid turning around. "I-it's all good."

"You're just going to let him ditch you like that?" Gary presses. "That's an insult."

"Why do you even care?!" The question explodes from my mouth before I can stop it. My eyes widen in shock as I quickly swivel around to assess the damage of my outburst. Maybe I could quickly apologize and take it back?

_Too late._

I can even feel the hurt before I see it briefly in Gary's viridian eyes. For some reason, he somewhat cares about me now, and I just kinda blew it off.

"You know what? You're right. I don't care." Gary storms past me, clearly pissed. "I'm out of here."

"Fine!" I yell back after him, deciding to ignore the fact that I'm out in public.

Why does this always happen to us? Just when I think we might be on our way back to friendship, we always run into some bump in the road. It's like there's this one invisible hurdle that will always be in our way.

Ignoring Annoying's shouts to follow Gary, I turn quickly back towards the road but in the opposite direction of Gary.

I don't know how I didn't notice, but it turns out in the five seconds that I was turned around, someone was trying to walk past me to the café. As a result of plain carelessness after my speedy exit, I crash into the person and topple to the ground, taking them with me.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I know it was kinda awkward and everything just seemed to spiral out of control, but don't worry! I'll explainfix away later!**

**0.0 It's like, midnight where I am and I should really be going to sleep instead of last-minute finishing this chapter because I wanted to post something for ORS day...**

**I originally wanted to have a POV from Ash, but then I decided I would probably be better off not...and thus, Marina's POV was born! Probs not going to happen ever again (or maybe it will? I'm not good at predicting my future self) Marina is smarter and more observant than she lets on (she's the first one besides Ash really to realize that Leaf isn't really interested in Damien).**

**IDK why, but I imagine Marina would sometimes throw her friends under the bus, albeit accidentally. (Marina "Under the Bus Thrower" Leprade)**

**And, yes, I crammed the whole Damien thing into this chapter because I decided that as much as I love Damien and Della, they need to go bye-bye. **

**Questions you might want to ponder: How does this really qualify as an ORS fic/post when it is so clearly lacking in romantic moments? Why does the author imagine Ash to be some hipster? Who is this person that Leaf just crashed into and pummeled the ground? Does this person even matter of is the author just being a troll at midnight? **

**Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions!**


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